











































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Shepherd, Thomas Hoswer. 


JfmETEEK'TH CEKTYMY 

‘ JB IG INS A 


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OF THE !WEW ATO MOST INTERESTING OBJECTS, 


inn the 


IMTFirSM MIS IT IK,©IP© iLE 


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UTS YKCHMIITY 



LON11CN. 

Published Mav 5. 18/1/. l>v .Joi:es &• Avion Place. Kings'lancl 


Boa* 1 ,. 



























IC 







A BRIEF VIEW 

OF THE 



EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON, 

AND ITS 

PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENTS TO THE PRESENT TIME. 


London, the most ancient constitutional borough in England, is a city 
of very high antiquity. Caesar gives no description, in the well known 
narrative of his conquests, of any other kind of town in Britain, than a 
thick wood fortified by a ditch and a mound. Hence it is concluded that 
London owes its origin to a much later period, even than the invasion of 
that conqueror. 

The first Roman historian who mentions our metropolis by name is 
Tacitus, who bears honorable testimony to the number and opulence of its 
merchants, and the abundance of its provisions. Strabo asserts of the 
country generally, that it produced corn, cattle, gold, silver, and iron; and 
f that skins, slaves, and dogs (excellent for the chace), were imported from 
our island. 

The conquests of Claudius, and his able general Plautius, were con¬ 
tinued in the reign of Nero by Suetonius Paulinus, who was bravely but 
unsuccessfully opposed by the natives under the command of their illus¬ 
trious queen Boadicea. This predatory warfare was continued by the Im¬ 
perial generals till the time of Domitian, whose legions, under the command 
of Agricola, achieved the conquest of nearly the whole island. This 
brave and prudent general provided for its security, by establishing that 
line of military stations, in the north of England, which was afterwards 
fortified in the reign of Antoninus Pius, and still remains a monument of 
Roman greatness. 

Agricola, being appointed governor of Britain, exhorted the natives to 
cultivate the arts of peace, to build temples and houses, and to imitate 













11 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


their enlightened conquerors. This caused London to revive, after t e 
severe defeat of Boadicea, to such an extent, that Herodian in his life 0 
the Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus, who reigned from the year 193 to 
211, calls it a great and wealthy city. It extended from Ludgate to Tower 
Hill in length, and from the causeway above Cheapside to the Thames m 
breadth. 

It is not probable, from the silence of the Roman historians, that London 
was either a place of great strength, or fortified by a wall, till after those 
periods wherein they wrote, and the time when it was so protected is a 
matter of great uncertainty. Maitland attributes the erection of a w all 
to Theodosius, who was governor of Britain in 369. Dr. Woodward and 
Mr. Pennant with more probability ascribe it to Constantine the Great, 
which appears to be confirmed by the number of coins found of his 
mother Helena. Pennant says, in further support of this conjecture, that 
in honour of this Empress, the city about that time received from her the 
title of Augusta , which superseded its more ancient and clearly British 
appellation Londinium , for only a short period. 

London, at tliis period of its history, had a mint, and was adorned with 
temples and other public buildings of great magnificence, as the numerous 
remains of ancient Roman architecture and sculpture, that have been dis¬ 
covered in various excavations, within the walls of the city, incontestably 
prove. The substantial and extensive wall that surrounded it, was strength¬ 
ened and adorned by the Romans with many towers, of so firm a structure 
that two were in existence in Maitland’s time; and Dr. Woodward doubts 
not, that nearly the whole circuit of the city wall as it stood in 1707 was 
erected upon the old Roman foundation, which comprehended an area of 
more than three miles in circumference. 

After the departure of the Romans from Britain, about the year 448, the 
independance of the country was established by the Emperor Honorius, 
who raised the City of London among other cities to the dignity of a 
colony. The supreme command devolved on Vortigern, an unfortunate 
prince, who bears the stigma of having invited the Saxons to protect him 
against his northern enemies, the Scots and Piets. The Saxons having 

succeeded and established their dominion under the name of the Saxon 

\ 

heptarchy, Hengist, the first of these crafty chieftains, established his 
government over Kent, Essex, and Middlesex, and raised Canterbury to 
the dignity of his metropolis in preference to London, which remained in 
possession of the Britons, and afterwards became the chief city of the 
Saxon kingdom of Essex. London was at this time governed by a chief 
magistrate under the title of Portgrave, or Portreve. 

Towards the latter end of the reign of Ethelbert, about the year 600, a 
considerable number of the Saxons were converted to Christianity, and 
Augustine, a monk sent over by Pope Gregory the Great, was ordained 








THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


Ill 


archbishop of England. He ordained Mellitus bishop of the East Saxons, 
who in 610 erected at the expense of Ethelbert a cathedral church in 
London, and dedicated it to St. Paul, and another in the island of Thorney, 
which he dedicated to St. Peter. At this time, says Bede, London was a 
mart town of many nations, yet it was far from that high estate in which 
it was left by the Romans; for no buildings in brick or stone were attempted 
by the Saxons till the year 680, and even the churches and monasteries 
were principally of wood, till the reign of Edgar in 974. 

In the year 764 London suffered very considerably by fire, and in 798 
it was entirely destroyed by a similar calamity. The city was scarcely 
rebuilt, when it was again destroyed by a third conflagration, in 801. 
During the civil wars between the various kingdoms of the Saxons, the 
Londoners wisely remained neuter; and when their seven kingdoms were 
united under the sole dominion of the victorious Edgar, in 827, he fixed 
upon London as his capital, and in 833 with Ethelwolf his son, Witlilaf 
king of Mercia, and the leading men of the realm assembled there, and 
held a Witena-gemot or parliament; and thus may he be considered as the 
second founder of London, by raising it to that rank among the cities of 
the kingdom, which it has ever since maintained. 

Notwithstanding the success of Egbert, it was not long before London 
was again the scene of war and devastation, from the invasion of the 
Danes; which, in three subsequent reigns, nearly overwhelmed the whole 
kingdom in ruin. After sacking and burning the unfortunate city, they 
found themselves under the necessity of occupying and fortifying it against 
the successes of the Britons. 

The conquests of Alfred restored London to its former greatness, and 
freed the kingdom from the Danish yoke. This great monarch repaired 
the walls, and rebuilt the city. He also established that regular system of 
law and government, and accomplished those great improvements, which 
are enjoyed to the present day. 

About a century after the death of Alfred, the Danes and Norwegians 
sailed up the Thames and besieged the city, which being unable to re¬ 
duce, they raised the siege, but harassed other parts of the kingdom. 
London, being abandoned by its pusilanimous monarch Ethelred, who 
abdicated his throne, and retired into Normandy, was compelled to submit 
with the rest of England to the yoke of Sweyne king of Denmark. The 
Londoners however, in the reign of Canute his son, joined in the general 
effort of the whole kingdom, under the brave Edmond Ironsides, the son 
of Ethelred. The enterprize was so successful, that Canute was com¬ 
pelled to abandon London to his rival, who was there crowned king of 
England; but, being afterwards assassinated, Canute became sole sove¬ 
reign of the kingdom. 




IV 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


Edward the Confessor is said to have been the first monarch who formally 
recognised the privileges of London, which had previously subsisted only 
by custom and tradition; and the city at this period, according to William 
of Malmsbury, became the resort of merchants from all parts of the 
world. 

On the invasion by William the Conqueror, the citizens of London re¬ 
ceived him with arms in their hands, and willingly acknowledged him as 
king, who in return took up his residence in their city, built the tower, and 
granted them their first written charter, which is still preserved in the 
archives of the city. In 1077 the greater part of the city was consumed 
by a casual fire, and in 1086 another dreadful fire began at Ludgate, and 
consumed the greatest and best part of the city, together with the cathe¬ 
dral of St. Paul, which however was soon rebuilt more magnificently than 
before. It was in this reign that the church of St. Mary-le-bow in Cheap- 
side was first erected. In the succeeding reign William Rufus erected 
Westminster Hall, as it now stands, and encompassed the Tower of 
London with a strong wall. Henry the First confirmed the grants and 
charter of his father, gave the citizens privilege to elect their own sheriffs 
and magistrates, and of being amenable to courts only held within their 
walls. This king, in consideration of an annual payment of ,£300, gave 
them also the privilege of electing the sheriff of Middlesex in perpetuity, 
a right which they enjoy to this day. Matilda, the consort of Henry, 
contributed also very largely to the increase of the public buildings of 
London. In the following reign of Stephen, the city was again devastated 
by a similar calamity. 

During the captivity of the chivalrous Richard Cceur-de-Lion, the 
citizens of London contributed largely to the sum required for his ransom, 
and received him with such truly civic magnificence, that a German 
nobleman, who accompanied the captive monarch to his ancient capital, 
observed, that had his master the Emperor been aware of the wealth of 
the king of England’s subjects, he would have demanded a much larger 
sum for his release. The grateful monarch confirmed the citizens in all 
their privileges, and conferred upon them the conservatorship of the river 
Thames, made their chief magistrate chief butler to the king, and gave 
them the power of fixing a standard of weights and measures for the 
whole realm. 

The buildings of London at this period, if we may believe the splendid j 
fictions of FitzStephen, were grand in the extreme ; for he describes the 
king’s palace as an incomparable edifice, and connected with the city by 
suburbs reaching two miles in length, that the bishops, abbots, and noble¬ 
men of the kingdom resorted thither, lived in beautiful houses, and main¬ 
tained very magnificent establishments. As at present, the citizens were 








THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. V 

well initiated in the luxuries of good living; for they had an immense public 
cooking establishment on the Thames side, at which dainties of every 
kind, of very expensive quality, could be had at any time of day or night. 
They had also public and private schools of philosophy and polite litera¬ 
ture ; the drama was well understood and cultivated, and Fitzstephen, who 
was a monk, commends in very high terms the holy exhibition of the 
miracles and martyrdom of the saints. 

In this reign, we have the first appearance of an approach towards a 
building act; for in the first year of king Richard’s reign, in consequence 
of the frequent fires, it was ordained by the court of aldermen that no houses 
should after that period he allowed to be built of wood or thatched; but 
that all of them should have an outside wall of stone raised sixteen feet 
from the ground. This stability in the structure of houses did not however 
last long; for, according to contemporary accounts, all houses in London 
were built of wood down to the reign of James I., at which time they 
P began to build with brick. 

During the absence of Cceur-de-Lion, his brother and successor John, 
then callad Earl of Moreton, cultivated by all possible means the love of 
the citizens, with the intention of gaining their interests to procure him 
the crown, in the stead of Prince Arthur, son of Geoffrey his elder brother. 
This was attended with such success, that king Richard was succeeded by 
his brother John, who gave the citizens the privilege of electing their chief 
, officer out of their own body. King John also gave the city three charters, 

^ reciting and confirming all the rights and privileges of his predecessors, 
with many very important additions. 

During the disputes that arose between John and the papal see, the 
citizens, in common with the rest of the kingdom, were excommunicated; 

’ still however they would have supported him, had not his tyranny alienated 
their affection, and drove them to join the Barons in defence of the general 
j, national interest. The king resented this; and the citizens retorted by 
strengthening their walls with a deep ditch, and other defences, which 
were somewhat retarded by an extraordinary fire on London Bridge, on 
the 10th of July 1212, whereby upwards of 3000 persons perished either 
by the flames or in being drowned by overloading the boats that went to 
their assistance. The bridge was greatly damaged, and a great part of the 
city consumed. 

In 1213, when the articles composing the great charter were proposed, 
resolved on, and sworn to, the citizens of London joined their fellow 
countrymen, and received with joy the means offered them to assist in this 
glorious achievement, which has become, to the present time, the palla¬ 
dium and standard of our liberties. 

Almost as soon as the gratifying intelligence of this event could be 
known over the kingdom, John applied to the pope for an absolution from 








VI 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


his solemn oath, aud to other foreign potentates lor military aid. With j 
this assistance he commenced a civil war against the Barons, who sought | 
and found protection within the walls of the city. He then fulminated 
against all concerned a thundering anathema from Rome, which was le- 
ceived with indifference. The citizens, although exempted by their 
charter from going to war, raised, it is said, a numerous army, both of 
horse and foot, besides fitting out a powerful fleet to protect their com¬ 
merce. 

On Henry III. succeeding to the throne, his first public act was to 
confirm the great charter. The citizens of London received their young 
king with every possible demonstration of attachment; but between them 
and the courtiers, who had been the supporters of John, there was any 
feeling but that of cordiality to each other. 

On the death of his wise and liberal minister, the Earl of Pembroke, 
Henry threw himself into the entire guidance of Hubert-de-Burgli, who, 
as chief minister and justiciary of the kingdom, acted with cruel and ar¬ 
bitrary measures. He suspended the operations of the great charter, and 
hanged Fitz-Arnulp (a citizen who had been engaged in a tumult against 
the abbot of Westminster), and two other citizens, without any trial. He 
also usurped the city authorities into his own hands, caused the king to 
amerce them in a large sum, and appointed a custos over it instead of 
their own chief magistrate. When the citizens remonstrated against this 
infraction of a solemn charter, he demanded a fifteenth of all their move¬ 
ables for granting a restoration of it. He also prohibited all schools of 
law to be held in London, where the articles of the great and the forest 
charters were taken as subjects for discussion. 

On the king’s coming of age, He Burgh incurred his displeasure, and, 
with a fickleness natural to him, the discarded minister was first given up 
to the mayor and citizens to be dealt with as he deserved; but on the re¬ 
monstrance of Ranulph, Earl of Chester, the order was recalled, to the 
great disappointment of the ill-treated citizens. 

Great as was the displeasure of the citizens, against the king’s mea¬ 
sures, they would not omit their usual splendour and liberality at the* 
coronation of queen Eleanor at Westminster; for the mayor, aldermen, 
and chief citizens went out with much splendour to welcome the royal 
consort. The king’s extravagance and misrule brought him into such dis¬ 
tress that he was compelled to pawn the crown jewels to relieve his neces- i 
sities. These national pledges were accepted by the citizens, to prevent 
their deposit with the Burghers of Antwerp, or the Jews of Amsterdam, 
the usual money lenders of that day. But, when the king heard who 
were the lenders of the money, he expressed great contempt for and dis¬ 
pleasure at the party. 








Tjjt TTio.lt. Shepherd. 


















































































































THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


VII 


The king therefore bore no great good will towards his good citizens of 
London, and proved his regard by most exorbitant exactions, and the 
various schemes of pillaging he resorted to so disgusted the citizens, that 
they joined cordially in the league made by the Barons against him. 

In this king’s reign is the first recorded instance of supplying the city 
with water, by means of pipes; which was brought from six fountains in 
the village of Tyburn. 

The enmity between the king and the city daily increased, and he exhi¬ 
bited his wrath by fines and curtailment of their ancient privileges ; which 
however they recovered by their wonted energy and perseverance. Henry, 
on the birth of his son Edward, affected to be reconciled to the city, that 
he might induce the corporation to take oaths of fealty to the new-born 
prince; and at the same time he made additional and expensive fortifica¬ 
tions to the Tower of London, hoping thereby to overawe the rebellious 
citizens. 




In the twenty-fifth year of this king’s reign, according to the chronicles 
of Sir Richard Baker, aldermen were first chosen to rule the wards of the 
city, but they were changed annually in the manner of the sheriffs; the 
houses were mostly covered, or thatched with straw, and a former edict 
that all future buildings should be of stone, with party walls, and covered 
with slates or tiles, was renewed. In the same year, the king granted a 
considerable sum towards building the new abbey church at Westminster. 
A common seal, which in fact, if not in name, now first incorporated the 
city as a body, was likewise granted in this reign. 

Notwithstanding the readiness of the citizens to comply with all the 
king’s reasonable demands, he still continued to oppress them under various 
pretences; in consideration however of receiving a large sum of money, 
he granted them a new charter, which confirmed all they had hitherto en¬ 
joyed. Yet his craving for money, and enmity to the city, continued un¬ 
abated ; and after numerous acts of tyranny, and conferences, he violated 
and granted in succession no less than nine different charters. So much 
had he drained the city by his continual extortions, that the most eminent 
citizens found difficulty in procuring provisions for their families, and the 
poor were reduced to a dreadful state of famine. 

In consequence of prince Edward breaking open the treasury of the 
knight’s Templars, in 1263, and robbing it of a large sum deposited there 
by the citizens, the inhabitants commenced retaliation upon the court by 
assaulting and plundering the houses of Lord Gray and others of the 
nobility. The barons being engaged in hostilities with the king demanded 
aid of the Londoners; but Henry, who came and resided in the Tower, en¬ 
deavoured to cajole them with fair words and promises; finding however 


they could no longer submit to the arbitrary will of so faithless a monarch, 
they marched to give him battle, when it was agreed to refer all their 


2 V 







X 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


to return two of their fellow citizens, but in the return to the court, the 
mayor, aldermen, sheriffs and commonalty returned three. 

The king having resigned the government entirely into the hands of his 
tyrannical favourites, the two Spencers, the barons resented this conduct, 
and summoned a parliament to meet in the city, where the nobility repaired 
with such a train of attendants, that they equalled in number a consider¬ 
able army. The conduct of the barons and the citizens was so prudent 
that the king was compelled to assent to their terms, and gave them many 
additional privileges, and another charter. The rest of this reign was spent 
in continual squabbles between the court and the city; both the Spencers 
were hanged, and the head of the younger one stuck upon London Bridge. 
The king, who had taken refuge in Wales, was sent to London, and con¬ 
fined in the Tower. The parliament voted his deposition in 1327, and 
his son Edward, then only fourteen years of age, was chosen to succeed 
him. 

The young king Edward III. was received by the Londoners with great 
enthusiasm, and, with the constitutional consent of his parliament, granted 
them an ample charter comprising the power of trying prisoners within 
their own jurisdiction, and of trying citizens convicted of crimes in other 
parts within the city, called the rights of in fang-theft and outfang-theft. 
He also added by a second charter the village of Southwark to the juris¬ 
diction of the city. 

In 1329, several ambassadors from foreign kingdoms having arrived, the 
king ordered a grand tournament to be performed in Clieapside, in honour 
of his illustrious visitors, which is a proof of the estimation in which he 
held the citizens, whose foreign trade had increased to such an extent, that 
in 1331 the customs of the port of London, at the very low rate of duty 
at that period, amounted to above <£8000 a year. 

In 1338 an expedition was formed against France; and the prince of 
Wales, afterwards known by the title of the Black Prince, who was regent 
during his father’s absence, issued a precept to the mayor, aldermen, and 
sheriffs of London, commanding them to shut up and fortify their city next 
the Tnames, against a French fleet, that had already invaded the realm in 
several places. In the following year the citizens advanced to the king 
the sum of 20,000 marks, raised by a general assessment on each ward. 
In this king’s reign another dispute arose between him and the Londoners, 
concerning an encroachment on their liberties, by the judges holding an 

inquisition in the Tower, which ended in a general enquiry, and a new 
charter. 

The king, wanting money to carry on the war with France, endeavoured 
to raise some, by compelling every citizen possessed of £40 a year to 
take upon himself the order ol knighthood, and a writ was accordingly 
issued to the sheriffs ; but the citizens, not being so fond of honours as in 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


XI 


latex times, availed themselves of certain exceptions, and directed the 
sheriffs to return a refusal. 

In the year 1346 David, king of Scotland, who had been taken prisoner 
at the battle of Nevil’s cross, was lodged in the Tower. About this time, 
a bridge at Westminster was first proposed, though it was not erected till 
within the last century. In the twenty-eighth year of this reign, such 
amity existed between the king and the citizens, that he granted them 
another most liberal charter, giving them the privilege of bearing maces of 
gold or silver before their chief magistrate, the same as before himself. 

In 1357 the city was honoured with the grandest triumphal procession 
that its records can boast of. This w T as the entry of Edward the Black 
Prince, accompanied by his royal prisoner John king of France, who were 
met in Southwark by upwards of 5000 citizens on horseback, and richly 
accoutred. This enlarged procession was met by the mayor, aldermen, 
sheriffs and the chief companies in their formalities with stately pageants, 
at the foot of London Bridge. The streets of the city were adorned with 
the richest tapestries, and with plate, silks and other furniture, exhibiting 
their wealth. This cavalcade lasted from three in the morning till noon. 

Henry Picard, a past lord mayor of London, had the honour in 1363 of 
entertaining, at his mansion in the city, the kings of France, Scotland, and 
Cyprus, together with his own sovereign and his gallant son the Black 
Prince. In furtherance of the war against France, the corporation of 
London lent the king a considerable sum, and at the same time petitioned 
the king and parliament against several encroachments on their privileges. 
In 1374 our great poet Chaucer was appointed comptroller of the customs 
in the port of London; and, in the fifteenth year of the king’s reign, he 
granted the citizens two other charters, one explanatory of the right of 
choosing aldermen, and the other relative to the encouragement of foreign 
artificers, a wise policy, to which however the citizens objected as tending 
to impoverish them, and to diminish their privileges. 

Although this conduct of the king did not ingratiate him much with the 
citizens, yet it did not lessen their respect for the royal family ; for, in the 
same year that the king gave these privileges to foreigners, they entertained 
the princess of Wales, widow of the Black Prince, her son prince Richard 
and their suite at Kennington, with a grand masquerade performed by 130 
citizens on horseback, who set out from Newgate and proceeded over the 
bridge through Southwark to Kennington. 

About this time Wickliffe being cited before the spiritual court in St. 
Paul’s cathedral, and a warm altercation having ensued between John 
duke of Lancaster the king’s son, and the bishop of London, the citizens 
took part with the latter. This conduct so highly incensed the prince, that 
he moved in the king’s name in parliament, of which he was president, 
that from that day there should be no more mayor of London, and many 


XII 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


other things subversive of its rights and privileges. Great riots ensued in 
consequence, and the mob attacked the Savoy, then the palace of the duke 
of Lancaster, murdered a priest and committed various other acts of atro¬ 
city. The mayor and commonalty waited on the king, who gave them a 
favourable reception and answer; but shortly after, the king’s infirmities 
and the duke’s ill will increasing, the mayor, sheriffs and aldermen were 
summoned to attend his majesty at Kew near Richmond. On this occa¬ 
sion they were less successful; for the mayor and several of the aldermen 
were dismissed from their offices, and others appointed by virtue of the 
king’s writ. Shortly after this the king died and was succeeded by his 
grandson Richard II. 

The reign of Richard II. is one of the most remarkable in the annals 
of the city; for, as Mr. Norton observes, we must refer to this period the 
present establishment of the civic government. At the coronation of this 
king, lie being then only eleven years of age, the citizens claimed their 
right of acting as chief butler, which being allowed, the lord mayor offi¬ 
ciated in that capacity. On this occasion, also, we find the first mention 
of a champion, although the present family of the Dymokes claim a more 
ancient date. The young king, in testimony of his regard for the citizens, 
gave them a confirmatory charter and a mandate for maintaining their 
widows. He also proposed to reside within the city, and offered his me¬ 
diation between them and his uncle, the duke of Lancaster. After this 
the young king made his grand entry into the city, for which the most 
magnificent preparations were made. 

The credit of the citizens was so high at this period, that in the as¬ 
sessment for that poll tax, the indecent collection of which caused the 
insurrection headed by Wat Tyler, the aldermen were entitled and rated 
as barons , and the lord mayor as a right honourable earl. This insur¬ 
rection occurred in 1380, when Sir William Walworth was mayor. After 
many successes in their way from Maidstone to Blackheath, destroying 
the Temple and other public buildings in the city, they sent a message to 
the king and demanded a parley. The insurgents possessed themselves of 
the Tower, seized and beheaded the archbishop of Canterbury and Sir 
Robert Hales, under circumstances of peculiar cruelty. They murdered 
many ancient citizens and foreign merchants, and committed other atroci¬ 
ties ; and at last agreed to a conference in Smithfield. One of the con¬ 
ditions proposed by their leader was that he should have a commission to 
behead all lawyers, escheators and others learned in the law. At this 
conference Tyler behaved with such insolence to the king, that Sir William 
Walworth as chief magistrate felled him to the ground. The presence of 
mind displayed by the king, and the successful issue of his address to the 
insurgents, are too well known to need repetition. The king knighted the 
lord mayor and several of the aldermen, and in the opinion of many writers. 




THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


XIII 


granted the augmentation of the dagger to the city arms in commemoration 
of this event. He also granted the corporation a new seal, and other 
honours and privileges. 

In this reign the regalia and crown jewels, pledged to the citizens, were 
redeemed, but the king imposed so many exactions upon them, and made 
so many attempts to abridge them of their privileges, that on the landing 
of the duke of Hereford (afterwards Henry IV.), in Yorkshire, he was 
instantly invited to take up his residence in the city. This conduct mate¬ 
rially tended towards the resignation of Richard. In this reign the wards 
were first represented in common council as at the present day. 

The new king Henry IV. was crowned at Westminster on the 13th 
October 1399, at which the lord mayor and aldermen of London were ad¬ 
mitted to their ancient rights of chief butler of England. In 1400 Emanuel 
Palaeologus, emperor of the Greeks, arrived in England, and was met by 
the king and nobility at Blackheath, and received by the lord mayor, 
aldermen, and citizens in a splendid manner. In this year also, says 
Fabian, Guildhall was built, instead of an old little cottage in Alderman- 
bury. The walls of the city in this reign were in a regular and complete 
state of repair, and a clear ditch was kept around them. The streets were 
now for the first time lighted with public lanterns, whence Mr. Norton 
justly infers, that the internal police of the city was under tolerably good 
regulation. The conservancy of the Thames was also confirmed to the 
citizens, who at this period were so wealthy that on a public loan the 
celebrated Richard Whittington advanced £1000, while the opulent bishop 
of Durham could only advance 100 marks. Whittington also rebuilt New¬ 
gate, the library of the Grey Friars, part of Bartholomew’s Hospital and 
the college of priests on College Hill, recently pulled down and rebuilt on 
a new site, near the Highgate archway. 

On the death of Henry IV., whose body is supposed to have been 
thrown into the Thames, the throne was filled by the gay and gallant 
Henry V., who confirmed the citizens in their ancient privileges. The 
festivities of lord mayor’s day 1415, were joyfully heightened by the arrival 
of the news of the king’s great victory at Agincourt, which was communi¬ 
cated to Nicholas Wotton, when proceeding to Westminster to be sworn. 
Moorgate was built in the same year for the convenience of the citizens to 
frequent the fields of Finsbury and the neighbouring villages. On the re¬ 
turn of the triumphant king the citizens received him with every possible 
demonstration of joy. Tapestry illustrative of his victory, and other showy 
embellishments, were displayed in the streets, and the city conduits ran 
with wine. The lord mayor, aldermen and citizens, went in grand caval¬ 
cade to the king at Westminster, and presented him with the (then) large 
sum of £1000 in gold, in two rich basins of the same metal and value. 



XIV 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


The citizens, also, in honour of their king, received the emperoi Sigis- 
mund in the most splendid manner, and advanced large sums to the king 
in aid of his war in France. Holborn was first paved in 1417; and in 
1419, a year celebrated as the third mayoralty of the famous Sir Richard 
Whittington, Sir Thomas Eyre, a past lord mayor, built Leadenhall as a 
public granary. This warlike monarch died in France on the 31st of August, 
1422, and was buried, with much ceremony, in the cathedral of St. Paul, 
James, king of Scotland, officiating as chief mourner, attended by the 
princes of the blood, the leading nobility and gentry of the kingdom, with 
the lord mayor, aldermen and principal citizens. 

Henry VI. succeeded his father, being only eight months and a few days 
old. He was carried in his mother’s lap in an open chair through the city 
to the parliament, then sitting at Westminster. In 1423 Newgate was re¬ 
built at the expense of funds left by Sir Richard Whittington, and many 
other improvements were made to the city. After the young king’s coro¬ 
nation in France, in 1431, he w r as received by the mayor and citizens of 
London at Blacklieatli and conducted to the city, with great splendour; 
and two days after the mayor and aldermen attended the king at West¬ 
minster, and presented him with a golden hamper, containing TlOOO in 
golden nobles. 

In the year 1438 Sir William Eastfield, knight of the Bath and lord 
mayor of London, brought, at his own expense, water into the city from 
Tybum and Highbury-Barn, and erected public conduits in Fleet Street, * 
Aldermanbury and Cripplegate. In the following year, the abbot of 
Westminster granted to the mayor and citizens of London and their suc¬ 
cessors a head of water, at Paddington, wdiich contributed much to the 
service of the city. The king granted a sum of money for repairing the 
cross in Cheapside, and in 1443 the common council granted also 1000 
marks towards erecting a new conduit at the western end. In 1448 the 
king pawned his plate to two London goldsmiths; and in 1450 the well 
known Jack Cade headed a rebellion, and took possession of the city, 
striking his sword upon London stone and proclaiming himself “ Lord of 
London.” He exercised sovereignty within the city, and put the lords Say 
and Cromer to death without trial. The citizens incensed at the conduct 
of some of his followers, who had plundered two wealthy aldermen, united 
with the king’s troops in the Tower, and cut off the rebel party. Three of 
the aldermen and many citizens however lost their lives in the conflict. 

The putting down of this rebellion, chiefly by the bravery of the citizens, 
gave such satisfaction to the king, that he made the lord mayor, Geoffrey 
Fielding, a privy counsellor, which is the first instance of a lord mayor of 
London being raised to so important a rank. The custom of the new lord 
mayor being rowed up to Westminster first occurred in this reign in 1454, 


*-X 


















































































































































XV 


THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 

when John Norman, the lord mayor elect, built an elegant barge at his own 
expense. This example was followed by several of the chief companies, 
who attended him in their respective barges splendidly decorated. 

The citizens distinguished themselves at this period by several revolts 
against the vacillating government of the duke of York, who had been 
appointed protector. One of these, as related by Fabian, was in the mo¬ 
nastery of St. Martin’s-le-grand, where a number of the inhabitants who 
had grossly insulted the citizens had taken refuge. The lord mayor and 
aldermen on learning the scandalous treatment of their fellow-citizens, by 
the retainers of the court, forced the sanctuary and brought off the assail¬ 
ants. The dean complained to the king, who summoned the recorder and 
a deputation of aldermen to attend him in Herefordshire, where, on hearing 
the case, he commanded the citizens to keep the aggressors in custody till 
his return. Another riot was occasioned by that jealousy of their liberties 
that always distinguished the Londoners ; for in May 1456 a young mercer, 
who had been denied the privilege of wearing liis dagger in some city in 
Italy, meeting an Italian in Cheapside with a dagger by his side, reproached 
him with his countrymen’s conduct, snatched his dagger from his side and 
broke his head with it. This led to a general commotion and a destruction 
of the houses and properties of most of the Italian merchants in London. 
Several other commotions, which w T ere said to have been promoted by the 
king’s enemies, occurred in the city. In consequence of one, that occurred 
in Fleet Street, between the students of the inns of court and the inhabi¬ 
tants, in which the queen’s attorney was killed, the principal of Furnivars, 
Clifford’s and Barnard’s inns were committed prisoners to Flertford castle, 
and William Taylor the alderman of the ward, with some other eminent 
citizens, was committed to the castle at Windsor. 

In the beginning of the year 1458, a reconciliation having been proposed 
between the king and the duke of York, the king and queen, with the dukes 
of York, Exeter and Somerset, the earls of Warwick, Northumberland and 
Salisbury, with many others of the principal nobility, attended by their re¬ 
spective retinues, arrived in the city for that purpose. The lord mayor 
caused a guard of 5000 trust-worthy citizens to keep guard every day 
under liis own immediate command, and 2000 to relieve them by night, 
under the command of three aldermen. By which prudent measure the 
peace of the city w r as preserved. 

A compromise having taken place, the results were made known to the 
public, and a grand procession to St. Paul’s followed on the 5th of May 
1458, in which the nobility walked in pairs, one of each party hand in 
hand, and the duke of York leading the queen with every external ap¬ 
pearance of cordiality. 

This hollow truce lasted however but a short time; the king’s party be¬ 
came successful, and the duke of York was compelled to flee to Ireland, 

2 X 


XVI 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


Lord Scales was commanded by tlie king to take possession of the eit), u , 
the citizens favouring the Yorkists, the lord mayor refused to pernn an 
armed force to enter within its walls. Lord Scales, howev ei, suspec ing 
that the citizens intended to admit the earl of March, took possession o t le 
Tower, and threatened to lay the city in ashes, in case the rebes 
admitted. His threats were disregarded, and lord March was received by 
the citizens with loud acclamations of joy. Scales kept his word and om 
barded the city from the Tower with such effect as to destioy a number 
of buildings, but the earl of Salisbury blocked up the Tower on every side I 

and saved the city from further destruction. 

By the death of the duke of York, in a dreadful battle between the pai- 1 
tisans of the rival houses of York and Lancaster, his son Edward Planta- 
genet, who is above mentioned as earl of March, succeeded to his father s 
title, and prosecuted the unholy war with the most implacable resentment. 
Theearl of Warwick, distrusting the citizens and not choosing to be cooped 
up within their walls, marched out against the queen’s army, where he 
was defeated in a desperate battle at Barnard’s Heath, near St. Alban’s. 

The young duke of York entered London on the 21st of February 1461, 
and was received by the citizens, who had previously cut off the queen’s 
supplies, with the greatest rapture, and he was proclaimed king by a large 
body of them in Clerkenwell Fields on the proposal of the earl of Warwick. 

A council was immediately held at Baynard’s Castle; the new king rode 
in procession to St. Paul’s, and, after being crowned at Westminster, re¬ 
turned to the city by water, where, taking up his residence at the bishop 
of London’s palace, he was proclaimed king by the name of Edward IV. 
In truth, says Mr. Norton, the good will of the citizens was thought by 
Edward to be so main a bulwark of his throne, that he never failed during 
the course of his reign to use every means of preserving it. Besides 
securing to them in the most ample manner their ancient privileges, he 
increased them by the grant of several very beneficial charters ; and even 
condescended to live among them on terms of the most convivial fami¬ 
liarity. 

Edward, though only in the twentieth year of his age, had scarcely as¬ 
cended the throne, when he exhibited symptoms of a sanguinary disposition, 
lie beheaded an opulent citizen, a grocer in Clieapside, for saying he would 
make his son heir to the crown, meaning his own shop, of which it was the 
sign. On the same day he marched his army through the city out at 
Bishopsgate, in search of his rival the unfortunate Henry, to whom he 
gave victorious battle at Towton, in Yorkshire. On his return he went 
from his palace at Sheen to London, and was met at Lambeth by the 
lord mayor and aldermen, with all their formalities, dressed in scarlet, 
attended by 400 citizens in green, and mounted on horseback. By this 
splendid escort he was conducted to the Tower, whence two days after 




THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


XVII 


lie was similarly escorted to Westminster, and crowned with great 
splendour. 

The city of London never before stood in such great estimation as in this 
reign, nor had its citizens ever before possessed so great an influence in 
settling the government. Its fortifications were so complete, and so well 
guarded, as often to defy, in this stormy period of its history, the most 
powerful armies. Edward, in gratitude for such signal services, granted 
the citizens many immunities, and four several charters. He also gave the 
first charter to the German merchants of the steel yard. 

At this period the citizens were so tenacious of their privileges, that upon 
a grand entertainment being given by the judges at Ely House, to which 
the mayor, aldermen, sheriffs and many of the principal citizens were in¬ 
vited, the most honourable place being assumed by the lord treasurer 
baron Ruthen, the lord mayor claimed precedency as having pre-eminence 
of all persons, after the king, within the liberties of the city. The treasurer 
remained inflexible, and the lord mayor retired with his fellow citizens, 
and entertained them himself with great hospitality. 

On May day 1465, the king married the beautiful and accomplished 
Elizabeth Woodville, and she was crowned at Westminster a few days 
afterwards, when he showed his esteem for the citizens by installing their 
lord mayor, Sir Thomas Cook, a knight of the Bath. In this year the king 
enlarged and strengthened the fortifications of the Tower of London, and 
erected a scaffold and gallows on Tower Hill, but, on the remonstrance 
of the mayor and citizens, he declared by proclamation that it was not to 
be considered in derogation of their rights. 

In the year 1466 the before-mentioned Sir Thomas Cook was impeached 
of high treason and committed to the Tower; and, notwithstanding his 
acquittal, he was obliged to purchase his liberty by paying to the king 
the exorbitant sum of ^£8000. At this period, the court of Edward was 
graced with ambassadors from almost every power in Europe ; hut none 
shone so resplendently as Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy, who was sent 
over by his brother the count de Charolois, duke of Burgundy, to conclude 
a marriage between that prince and the Lady Margaret, sister to the king. 
The bastard, who was greatly celebrated for his chivalrous prowess, chal¬ 
lenged the lord Scales, brother to the queen, to contend with him in various 
feats of arms. The challenge being accepted, the king commanded lists 
to be prepared in Smitlifield, and magnificent galleries to be erected for 
the reception of the illustrious spectators. The tournament lasted three 
days, and the English knight was declared the victor. In June 1468 the 
princess Margaret set out for Burgundy, to celebrate her nuptials with the 
duke, and was met in Clieapside by the lord mayor and aldermen, who 
in the name of themselves and their fellow citizens presented her with two 
rich basins, containing 100 lbs. of gold in each. 


XVIII 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


The next year of Edward’s reign was distinguished by many populai 
commotions, which were principally excited by the earl of Warwick, who 
felt himself neglected. When this nobleman, who is distinguished in oui 
history by the name of the king-maker, took up arms openly against 
Edward, the earl of Rivers, father to the queen, was made prisoner and 
beheaded. The king was also placed in confinement at Middleham Castle, 
from which he escaped to Holland, leaving his queen in the Tower ol 
London; who fearing her life fled to the sanctuary at Westminster. On 
the queen’s departure, the custody of the Tower was entrusted to the lord 
mayor (Sir Richard Lee) and the aldermen, who removed the deposed king 
Henry from the place of his imprisonment to the royal apartments. 

After many conflicts in which the neighbouring tillages of Limehouse, 
Ratcliffe, and St. Katherine’s, were plundered and burned, the parliament 
that was summoned by Warwick and the duke of Clarence, in the name 
of king Henry, was adjourned to St. Paul’s, where it sat from November 
till Christmas. To avoid committing his fellow citizens by taking part in 
these violent proceedings, the lord mayor, John Stockton, feigned sickness. 
Edward did not remain idle ; for on the 12th of March 1471 he landed in 
England, assisted by his brother-in-law the duke of Burgundy, and pro¬ 
ceeded with all possible expedition to London. On his arrival, the lord 
mayor and aldermen demanded and obtained possession of the Tower in 
Edward’s name, and on the lltli of April following he again entered 
his capital in triumph, and was received by the citizens with the highest 
demonstrations of joy. Edward put himself immediately at the head of 
his forces, and left the city, to which Warwick was hastening by forced 
marches, and on the 14tli of April, being Easter Sunday, the two armies 
met near Barnet, and a desperate battle was fought, in which no quarter 
was given on Edward’s side, Warwick was slain, and Edward confirmed 
on his throne. Edward hastened to London, immediately after this sangui¬ 
nary conflict, and proceeded to St. Paul’s, where he deposited his own 
and his enemies’ standards. The citizens indulged as usual in splendid 
festivities in commemoration of the event. 


An adventurer, known by the name of the Bastard Falconbridge, who, 
after having been vice-admiral of the channel, commenced pirate, entered 
the suburbs of Southwark with an army of 17,000 men. On the 14th of 
May, 1471, he attempted to enter the city by the way of the bridge; 
which however he found to be so well fortified and defended that he could 
not succeed, although he proceeded to storm it. A party of his army crossed 
the river elsewhere, and made their way into the city by the way of Aid- 
gate, but were driven out by the valour of the citizens, headed by one of 
then Aldermen, Robert Bassett. Being thus defeated, Falconbridge em- 
barked at Blackwall, and sailed round to Sandwich, where, after a battle 
wilh Edward, he was taken prisoner, and, with several of his companions, 


THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


XIX 


^ its executed, mid tlieir heads fixed upon London Bridge. The king was 
so gratified with the gallant defence of the citizens, that he knighted the 
loid mayor John Stockton, twelve of the aldermen and the recorder. On 
the *21st of May, Edward entered the city in triumph, and the next morning 
king Henry VI. was found dead in the Tower. 

The following year, 1472, will he ever memorable in the history of 
London, by the introduction of the art of printing into England, by 
A\ illiam G ax ton, citizen and mercer of London. The first book printed in 
London by this eminent citizen was a treatise on chess, translated by him¬ 
self from the French, and dated 1474. This noble art soon got into great 
repute; for previous to Caxton’s death, which occurred in 1491, we find 
Theodore Rood, John Lettou, William Maclieline and Wynkin de Worde, 
foreigners, and Thomas Hunt, an Englishman, all printers within the city. 

In the year 1475 an act of common council was passed, by which the 
election of the lord mayor and sheriffs, which had till then been in the 
whole body of the citizens, was vested in the masters, wardens and 
liverymen of the several city companies, as at the present day. 

The gates, walls and other fortifications of the city, being in a very de¬ 
cayed state, the lord mayor and aldermen resolved to repair them, with 
bricks made and burned in Moorfields; and that the expense of such 
repairs should be defrayed by a collection raised among the inhabitants at 
large. But, the sum not being sufficient, the draper’s, skinner’s and gold¬ 
smith’s companies repaired various parts, and the town ditch was also 
cleansed. 

The king, who long wanted to get rid of the duke of Clarence, sum¬ 
moned the lord mayor and aldermen to attend the privy council, to witness 
the accusations that were trumped up against him. With tlieir consent, 
he was committed to the Tower, where he was tried, condemned and ex¬ 
ecuted, in so private a maimer, that the mode of it is a secret to this day. 
In June, 1479, the citizens purchased a third and fourth charter from the 
king at a large expense, and in the September following a dreadful pesti¬ 
lence raged in London till the November in the following year. 

To evince his great regard for the citizens of London, the king invited 
the lord mayor, aldermen and chief citizens in 1480 to a grand hunt in 
Waltham Forest, in which several deer were killed and the entertainment 
concluded with a sumptuous feast. Shortly after this, to show his regard 
for the city ladies, his majesty, whose gallantry towards them is broadly 
hinted at by Philip de Commines, sent a present of two harts, six bucks 
and a tun of wine to the lady mayoress, who entertained the aldermen’s 
wives and other ladies with this royal donation at Draper’s Hall. 

This monarch, after an eventful reign of twenty-three years, died at 
Westminster on the 9th of April, 1483, and was succeeded by his son 
Edward V., who was then in the thirteenth year of his age. The reins of 


XX 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


government were assumed by his uncle Richard, duke of Gloucester, as 
protector during the king’s minority, and he was immediately proclaimed 
in London. The queen mother on hearing of this appointment, and of 
Gloucester’s imprisoning the lords Rivers and Gray, Sir Thomas \ aughan 
and other friends of the young king, in Pomfret Castle, immediately left 
London and fled for refuge to the sanctuary at Westminster. The citizens 
also caught the general alarm, took up arms in great number and joined 
the nobility, who had done the same, until they could learn the motives for 
thus making a captive of their young king. 

The duke of Gloucester, unwilling to incense the Londoners, sent lord 
Hastings, who was much esteemed by them, into the city, to assure them 
of the uprightness of his intentions. This pacified them in some degree, 
and, on the 4tli of May, he and the young king were met at Hornsey Park 
by the lord mayor, aldermen and five hundred of the principal citizens, 
richly dressed and mounted on horseback. This splendid retinue of Lon¬ 
doners escorted the king and his attendants with great pomp to the city, 
where he was received with great joy, and the same night took up his 
residence in the palace of the bishop of London. Gloucester performed 
his part so well on this occasion, that he rode before the king barehead, ex¬ 
claiming to the people “ behold your kingand on his arrival at the 
bishop’s, palace renewed his oath of allegiance, in which he was followed 
by all the prelates and nobles present, together with the lord mayor and 
aldermen of London. 

The young king was splendidly lodged in the palace of the Tower of 
London, where he was speedily joined by his younger brother the duke of 
York; and great preparations were made for the proposed coronation. But 
on the 13th of June one part of the privy council met at Westminster, for 
the purpose of notifying to the city magistrates in due form the day of the 
coronation, and the other part, with the protector, met in the Tower. Here 
that extraordinary scene was performed, where emissaries of the protector 
proclaimed treason, wounded lord Stanley on the head with a pole axe, 
and seized him with the archbishop of York, the bishop of Ely and lord 
Hastings. The latter of these noblemen, whom Gloucester had inveigled 
by his dissembling into his grasp, was immediately executed on a log of 
wood which lay accidentally in a court of the Tower. 

As an apology for this summary outrage, the protector sent for the mayor, 
aldermen and leading citizens of London, on whose concurrence he founded 
his chief hopes of success, and, besides a hypocritical speech, he issued a 
proclamation which was read throughout the city. This proclamation, says 
Sir Thomas More, in his life of Edward V., was, although got up in such 
haste, in such good style of composition, at so great length and so beau¬ 
tifully engrossed on parchment, that, as was sarcastically observed by a 
citizen, it seemed certainly penned in the spirit of prophecy. This apology 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


XXI 


failing in its intended effect, Gloucester tried other measures to engage the 
aid of the citizens, and made their lord mayor Sir Edmund Shaw a privy 
councillor; by which means he obtained the interest of Dr. Ralph Shaw, 
his brother, a very eloquent and popular preacher, who abused his faculties 
and his calling by preaching to the citizens at St. Paul’s Cross in favour of 
the usurper. 

The impression intended to have been made on the citizens, by this ser¬ 
mon, having failed in its object, a new expedient was resorted to. Orders 
were sent to the lord mayor, who had become a complete tool of the 
protector’s, to convene without delay a common hall. This meeting was 
accordingly held, but Mr. Norton has rescued the citizens from a part of 
the obloquy that has been attached to them for this act, by the discovery* 
that it was a meeting out of the common course, and not regularly con¬ 
vened according to the statute. No entry of it is therefore to be found 
in any of the city books, although every other in Richard’s protectorate and 
reign are duly entered. The plausible speech of the Duke of Buckingham 
and the conduct of the citizens on this memorable occasion are well known 
and need not be repeated in this brief abstract of civic history. The result 
was, that Richard rvas proclaimed king, and his first act of sovereignty 
was the murder of his two nephews, one of them being his king, to whom 
he had twice sworn fealty. 

The great body of the citizens returned to their homes in grief, but the 
members of the corporation attended the usurper’s coronation, with the 
lord mayor as cup bearer, in great pomp. Their claim in this particular, 
it would appear, was formally allowed and still remains on record in the 
town clerk’s office. The new king, Richard III., to testify his gratitude 
for this honour, took up his residence among the citizens at Baynard 
Castle. 

The death of Richard III., in the memorable battle of Boswortli Field, 
placed his successful rival, the earl of Richmond, on the throne of England, 
with the title of Henry VII. The first act of the new king was to enter 
the capital, and he was met on his way by the lord mayor, aldermen and 
chief citizens at Highgate, and received in Shoreditch by the principal 
corporate companies in their formalities. Henry, however, entered the city 
in a close litter, and did not condescend to court the suffrages of the cor¬ 
poration, whose conduct to his predecessor could not much have gratified 
him; but proceeded direct to St. Paul’s, where he returned public thanks 
for his great and auspicious victory, and deposited the standards taken in 
the battle. Having taken up his residence at the bishop’s palace, on the 
following day he assembled a council and solemnly renewed the oath he had 
previously made before the battle of Boswortli. 


* Norton’s Com. p. 170, n. 


XXII 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 

In the session of parliament held in 1487-8, the jurisdiction of the lord 
mayor of London, and his successors, over the river Thames was confirmed, | 
and although the citizens were liberal in their loans, benerolences an I 
other contributions to the king’s necessities, less cordiality subsisted be- j 
tween the monarch and his good citizens of London in this leign than in 
almost any other in our history. Let upon one occasion the king ga^e 
the citizens a grand entertainment in Westminster Hall, and confened the 

honour of knighthood on the lord mayor. 

On the 4th of October, 1501, Katherine of Arragon, infanta of Spain, 
landed at Plymouth, and made a grand public entry into the city on the 
12tli of November. The corporation received the princess with due 
honours and splendour, and, on the 14tli of the same month, she was mai- 
ried in St. Paul’s Cathedral to Arthur, prince of Wales, in the presence of 
the lord mayor and chief citizens, who were subsequently entertained in 
the great hall of the bishop of London’s palace. The newly married 
couple resided for a few days in the city, and were then escorted by the 
lord mayor, aldermen and the corporate companies in their splendid 
barges to Westminster. 

In the year 1502 king Henry took down the old and decayed lady chapel 
at the east end of Westminster Abbey and a tavern that adjoined it, and 
erected on their sites the splendid mausoleum that bears his name. The 
river Fleet was also this year cleansed out, widened and made navigable to 
Holborn Bridge; and about five years afterwards Dean Collet founded that 
excellent institution St. Paul’s School, which has been recently augmented, 
and the school house rebuilt by the Mercers’ Company, his trustees. 

On the 22nd of April, 1509, the king died at his palace of Richmond, 
leaving an unexampled treasure in money, jewels and plate locked up in 
its vaults, and was immediately succeeded by his eldest surviving son, 
who was proclaimed the next day with the usual solemnities, and with the 
style and title of king Henry VIII. The new king, shortly after his pro¬ 
clamation, married the widow of his deceased brother Arthur, and pro¬ 
ceeded with his queen from the Tower to Westminster through the city, 
the streets, houses and public buildings being splendidly decorated. 

The new king, imitating the conduct of some of the eastern monarclis, 
in 1510 went into the city in the garb of a yeoman of the guard, to witness 
the grand cavalcade of the city watch on the eve of St. John. He was 
so pleased with the ceremony, which, twice in every year, was accompanied 
by the lord mayor and city officers in state, that he returned on St. Peter’s 
eve, with his queen and the principal nobility. The procession, which was 
very grand, was illuminated by nearly a thousand large lanterns fixed on 
the ends of long poles. The whole formed a grand sight and gave the 
highest satisfaction to the royal pair. 













































































































































THE EARLY HISTORY OF LOMDON. 


XXIII 


In this reign may be dated the commencement of what may he called an 
English royal navy, of ships of war, established by the government for 
the national defence. The fraternity of the Trinity House was instituted 
in 1512, and the dock yards of Woolwich and Deptford established. In 
the following year the batteries or forts at Gravesend and Tilbury were first 
constructed as a defence for the upper part of the Thames. In 1523 the 
city ditch was again cleansed, the fortifications looked to, and other public 
improvements effected. 

In 1522 the Emperor Charles V. arrived in England on a visit to king 
Henry, who met him at Dover, and accompanied him to Greenwich. On 
their arrival in the city, the lord mayor, aldermen and sheriffs, in all their 
formalities, attended by the principal citizens on horseback, received them 
with a magnificence that would be almost incredible, did we not know 
from incontestible authority the pompous habits of the age of Henry VIII. 
The emperor was conducted to Blackffiars, and the princes and nobility 
of his retinue to the new palace at Bridewell. The king and queen of 
Denmark also paid the king a visit in this year, and were as splendidly 
received and lodged by the citizens. St. Peter’s eve occurring during their 
stay, their majesties went to the King’s Head in Cheapside, to witness the 
splendid ceremony of mustering the city watch. 

Shortly after this period, Henry, by the advice of his minister Wolsey, 
ordered a survey of the kingdom, in order to take a tenth of the property 
of the laity, and a fourth of that of the clergy; but the opposition raised to 
this measure by the citizens rendered it necessary to avoid a rigid exaction. 
The sum thus raised being insufficient, a parliament was summoned and 
met at Blackfriars on the 15th of April, 1523; but the supplies demanded 
were granted so unwillingly, and with such restrictions, that no parliament 
was called for seven years after. 

By an act of parliament of the fourteenth and fifteenth of Heniy VIII., 
c. 2, the jurisdiction of the city corporations was to extend two miles 
beyond the city, namely, the town of Westminster, the parishes of St. 
Martin in the Fields and our Lady in the Strand, St. Clements Danes 
without Temple Bar, St. Giles’s in the Fields, St. Andrew’s in Holborn, the 
town and borough of Southwark, the parishes of Shoreditch, Whitechapel, 
St. John’s Street Clerkenwell, and Clerkenwell, St. Botolph without Aid- 
gate, St. Katherines near the Tower, and Bermondsey. 

Such were the suburbs of our great metropolis in 1524. They were 
greatly detached, and the intervals were principally public fields. The 
Strand was then occupied by mansions and dwellings of the nobility, which 
were surrounded by large and splendid gardens; and a considerable portion 
of the parishes of St. Martin and St. Giles were literally, as they are still 
called, in the fields, as were also a great portion of the city of West- 


XXIV 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


minster, and the parishes or villages of Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, and White¬ 
chapel, and the borough of Southwark. 

The plague raged so fiercely in London, towards the latter part of this 
year, that the King and his court removed to Eltham; Michaelmas teim 
was adjourned, and the city was so deserted by its inhabitants, that the 
ensuing Christmas was denominated, from its lack ol usual mirth and 
festivity, “ the still Christmas.” 

Wolsey being appointed ambassador extraordinary to the French couit, 
in 15*27, made a pompous departure from the city, attended by a numerous 
train of the chief nobility, gentry, and clergy, to the amount of twelve 
hundred horsemen; and in the same year two ambassadors extraoruinary 
arrived from the court of France, and made a grand public entry into the 
city. They were lodged in the bishop of London’s palace, and liberally 
entertained by the lord mayor and corporation. 

The rumour of the king’s intended divorce from queen Katherine was 
so ill received by the citizens of London, on the arrival of cardinal Cam- 
peijus as joint commissioner with Wolsey for that purpose, that insur¬ 
rections were apprehended. To allay this feeling, the king addressed a 
numerous assemblage of nobles, prelates, the lord mayor, aldermen, and 
principal commoners of the city, in the hall of his palace of Bridewell. 

The behaviour of the citizens, in the measure of Henry’s attempt to 
throw oft' the power of the papal yoke, so pleased the king, that he granted 
them extended powers, by his last charter dated the 13th of April in the 
22nd year of his reign, which is preserved in the impeximus charter of 
Charles II.; and commanded a general muster of the defensible men of the 
city, whom he reviewed in the fields between Whitechapel church and 
Stepney. The lord mayor, aldermen, recorder, and sheriffs, attended the 
muster, accoutred in white armour, and black velvet coats embroidered with 
the city arms, with gold chains about their necks, velvet caps on their heads, 
and gilt battle axes in their hands, attended by pages, servants, and a 
great number of the citizens on horseback superbly dressed. They passed 
in review before the king and his splendid court, who expressed themselves 
abundantly satisfied with their martial appearance. 

On the public declaration of the marriage of the king with Anne Boleyn, 
Henry ordered the lord mayor and citizens to make preparations for con¬ 
ducting her from Greenwich by water to the Tower; and that the city 
might be decorated on her proceeding the following day to Westminster, to 
be crowned. This was performed with all the corporation’s wonted magni¬ 
ficence and splendour, aided by all the city companies and principal 
citizens. The queen was highly pleased with the magnificence of the 
procession, and, on her arrival, returned the mayor and citizens her sincere 
thanks for their pompous attendance. 


THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


XXV 


An act of parliament was passed, in 1534, for paving the west-end of 
the high street in London, between Holborn and Holborn bridge, and also 
the streets in Southwark; and in the following year the common council 
granted two-fifteenths towards defraying the expenses of bringing water 
from Hackney to Aldgate, where a conduit was erected for the use of the 
eastern part of the city. 

In the same year, Henry assumed the title of supreme head of the 
chinch; and, in order to show his title thereto, beheaded Fisher bishop of 
Rochester, and Sir Thomas More, for denying his supremacy. In May 
1536 he imprisoned and beheaded his second queen Anne Boleyn (at Which 
horrible murder, the lord mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs were compelled to 
attend), and married on the next day Jane Seymour, who died in the 
October following, twelve days after the birth of Prince Edward. 

In the year 1538 the common council passed an act for the better re¬ 
gulation and preservation of the navigation of the Thames; and other regu¬ 
lations were made by the citizens for the improvement of the city and its 
liberties. In the following year, the king, fearing that some of his conti¬ 
nental neighbours, stirred up by the pope, might attack his dominions, put 
himself in a state to receive them:—and, among other means of defence, 
ordered all his subjects from the age of sixteen to sixty to be mustered. 
He also issued a similar commission to the lord mayor of London, Sir 
William Foreman, who immediately mustered the citizens of those ages at 
Mile-end. This was the greatest muster ever made by the citizens of 
London previous to those of the volunteers during the French revolu¬ 
tionary war, consisting of three divisions of five thousand men each, ex¬ 
clusive of pioneers and other attendants. They marched in martial order 
through the city to Westminster, where they were reviewed by the king 
and the nobility, who expressed great satisfaction at their splendid and 
soldier-like appearance. 

On the public entry of the Princess Anne of Cleves, Henry’s new bride, 
she was met on Blackheatli on the 3rd of January, 1540, by the king, 
accompanied by the lord mayor, aldermen, and citizens of London, with all 
the foreign merchants resident in the city, and escorted in grand state to the 
royal palace at Greenwich. The royal pair were conveyed in the grand 
city barges, with the lord mayor and chief citizens, to Westminster, where 
they were married, and in a few months after divorced. On the 8th of 
August, of the same year, Catherine Howard, to whom the king had been 
some time privately married, was publicly declared queen of England. 

About this time Robert Brocke, one of the king’s chaplains, invented 
the method of making leaden pipes for conveying water under ground, 
without the use of solder, and Robert Coope, a goldsmith of the city, was 
the first who made them, and put the invention in practice. In 1541 an 
act of parliament was passed for paving the street leading from Aldgate 


XXVI 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


to Whitechapel church, the upper part of Chancery Lane, the way leading 
from Holborn Bars to St. Giles’s in the Fields, as far, says the statute, as 
any habitation is on both sides of the street, Gray’s-Inn Lane, Shoe Lane, 
and Feuters (now Fetter) Lane. At this period, says Hakluyt, the mer¬ 
chants of London had extended their foreign trades to the Brazils. On 
the 12 th of February 1542 Henry beheaded another of his queens, 
Catherine Howard, and her confident lady Jane Rochfort, on Tower Hill. 

In consequence of a scarcity this year, the common council of London 
passed an act restraining the lord mayor from having more than seven 
dishes at dinner or supper, the aldermen and sheriffs being limited to six, 
the sword-bearer to four, and the mayor’s and sheriff’s attendants to three, 
with other laws against luxurious feasting. 

The parliament of this year passed two acts relative to the city, one for 
the better paving of such parts of the city and suburbs as were omitted 
in the former act, and the other for the embanking and dividing Wapping 
Marsh. In 1541 Tilbury Fort was built of stone, being previously only 
a mud fort, and a battery opposite to it at Gravesend, and the city was this 
year visited with a violent attack of the plague, that carried off many of its 
inhabitants. In 1545 the twelve chief companies of the city advanced the 
king a large sum on a mortgage of certain of the crown lands, and aider- 
man Read, who had refused a benevolence, was sent as a common soldier 
into Scotland. In the same year the citizens raised and completely fitted 
out a regiment of 1000 foot soldiers, as a reinforcement to the army in 
France. 

On the conclusion of a peace between England and France, it was pro¬ 
claimed and commemorated in the city with great splendour on Whit¬ 
sunday 1546 ; and on the arrival of the French ambassador in the August 
following, who landed at the Tower wharf, he was met by the lord mayor, 
aldermen and citizens, and conducted to the bishop’s palace, where he was 
presented by the city with four large silver flagons richly gilt, besides wine 
and other costly gifts. 

The king having dissolved, among many others, the priory and old hos¬ 
pital of St. Bartholomew in Smitlifield, he founded it anew shortly before 
his death, and endowed it with a handsome revenue, on condition that the 
city should contribute an equal sum. This proposal being accepted, the 
new foundation was incorporated by the name of i( The hospital of the 
mayor, commonalty and citizens of London, governors for the poor, called 
Little St. Bartholomews, near West Smitlifield.” 

Shortly after this act of charity, king Henry VIII. died, on the 28th of 
January 1547, and was succeeded by his son Edward VI., then in the 
ninth year of his age. His maternal uncle, whom he created duke of 
Somerset, was chosen protector of the kingdom, and guardian of the 
youthful king. The lord protector commenced his office by knighting the 


THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


XXY1I 


king, who being qualified took the sword of state, and conferred a similar 
honour upon the lord mayor, Sir Henry Hoblethorn. 

The reformation in religion now assumed a more steady aspect than 
in his turbulent father’s reign. The rood, and other emblems of popery, 
were formally removed from St. Paul’s. The gathering of the city watch, 
that had been put down by Henry, was revived in all its ancient splendour 
by Sir John Gresham, then lord mayor. 

The city, together with the nation at large, disliking the administration 
of Somerset, after many bickerings, deputed alderman Sir Philip Hobby to 
remonstrate with the king, who in consequence committed the lord protector 
to the Tower, to which place he was conducted by the citizens with marks 
of exultation. In the year 1550 the king granted a charter which con¬ 
veyed to the city, in the most ample terms, a very extensive property in 
Southwark, the manor and all manorial rights over it, together with a large 
jurisdiction, both civil and criminal. This valuable estate, says Edward 
Tyrrell, Esq.*, deputy remembrancer of the city, has been considered as 
applicable to the maintenance of London Bridge, and is now charged with 
the payment of a large sum for rebuilding the present bridge. No trust of 
this nature, continues this eminent legal authority, is mentioned in the 
charter; and, after payment of the existing charges, the estate ought to 
revert back to the corporation. 

The citizens in 1551 joined in security to the bank of Antwerp for 
money advanced to the king; and having purchased, with the manor of 
Southwark, the hospital of St. Thomas the Apostle, they repaired and en¬ 
larged it at a considerable expense. The king, in return, incorporated the 
lord mayor, commonalty and citizens of London, governors of the hospital, 
together with those of Christ and Bridewell: the former for the relief 
and education of young and helpless children, and the latter for the lodg¬ 
ing of poor wayfaring people, the correction of vagabonds and disorderly 
persons, and for providing them with work. 

On the 6th of July, 1553, the young king died, leaving a will, which set 
aside his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, and left the crown to the lady Jane 
Grey. Some preparations were made to carry this into effect; but, as the 
sense of the nation was against disturbing the succession, the council met 
at Baynard’s Castle, when, after consulting the lord mayor, aldermen, and 
recorder, they all proceeded to Cheapside, where they proclaimed the 
princess Mary, daughter of king Henry VIII., queen of England. After 
which ceremony they proceeded to St. Paul’s, where the Te Deum was 
sung in commemoration. On the 3d of August the new queen made her 
public entry into the city, preceded by the lord mayor in a crimson velvet 
gown, bearing a golden sceptre. 


* In his notes to Norton’s Com. p. 500. 


XXVIII 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


Although the queen promised liberty of conscience in religion to all her 
subjects, she restored the papist Bonner to the see of London, whose 
chaplain in a sermon at St. Paul’s took leave to cast reflections upon the 
memory of the deceased king Edward. This so incensed the Londoners, 
that they hissed the preacher, pelted him with brick-bats and stones, and 
one of them threw a dagger at him with so good an aim that it stuck in 
the pulpit. 

In the first year of her reign, Mary demanded a loan of £20,000 from 
the city, which was levied upon the aldermen and 120 of the chief com¬ 
moners. On the last day of September in the same year the queen rode 
in great state from the Tower, through the city, to Westminster. The 
citizens received her with such respect, that on her alighting at the palace 
at Whitehall she publicly thanked the lord mayor. On the following day 
she was crowned with the greatest magnificence, the lord mayor and twelve 
of the chief citizens officiating as chief butler; for which service the 
mayor received a gold cup and cover, weighing seventeen ounces, as 
his fee. 

The proposed marriage between the queen and Philip of Spain w r as 
first publicly announced by the lord chancellor, to the lord mayor, aldermen, 
and forty of the principal commoners, who w r ere summoned to attend the 
privy council for this purpose. This announcement occasioned the com¬ 
motion called Wyat’s rebellion, in which queen Mary had great reason to 
apprehend the entire defection of the city, whose pow r er and influence she 
so much dreaded, that she suddenly repaired in person to the Guildhall, 
where she was met by the lord mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, and the chief 
of the city companies. She harangued them in a long and soothing 
speech, which had a good effect, and she left the city in the care of the 
lord mayor and the lord How r ard. 

The termination of this rebellion, which, however, w^as not accomplished 
without much bloodshed, was followed by dreadful scenes of persecution. 
The city jury, who acquitted Sir Nicholas Throckmorton at Guildhall, 
were commanded to appear before the council, and fined £500 each. 

The marriage, however, took place, and the royal couple made a public 
entry into the city, which was sumptuously adorned, and they w'ere re¬ 
ceived with great testimonials of attachment. 

At this period of the civic history, the expenses of serving the public 
offices had become so great that many of the principal citizens retired from 
the city rather than incur them. The common council therefore restrained 
them by a sumptuary act, which regulated the economy of every festival, 
and added for the first time an allowance out of the city chamber to the 
lord mayor, in alleviation of his charges in entertaining his fellow citizens 
on lord mayor’s day. The allowance thus granted in consideration, as the 
act expresses it, of the great annual expense of the mayor and sheriffs, in 


THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


XXIX 


providing a sumptuous entertainment at Guildhall on lord mayors’ days, 
and for the honour of the city, was the sum of £100 a year. 

Such a raging fever occurred in London towards the end of the year 
1555, that great numbers of the citizens were earned off, and, among 
others of the higher classes, seven aldermen fell victims to its ravages 
within ten months. In the year 1557, says the author of The Present 
State of England, a work printed in 1683, drinking glasses were first 
manufactured in England. The finer sort were made in Clutched Friars, 
and fine flint glass, nearly equal to that of Venice, was first made about 
the same period in the Savoy near the Strand. 

In March 1558 the queen borrowed of the chief city companies the sum 
of £*20,000 on the security of certain lands, and allowed them twelve per 
cent, annual interest thereon. In the November of the same year queen 
Mary departed this life, and was succeeded by her sister the princess 
Elizabeth, who was proclaimed queen in London with the usual formalities 
^ and with great demonstrations of joy. The lord mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, 

; and commonalty of the city met their new sovereign at Highgate, in her 
way from Hatfield, and conducted her with great pomp to the tower of 
London. On the 14tli of January following the queen rode through the 
city to Westminster, and was addressed by the recorder in the name of his 
*ellow citizens. 

On the 4th of June, 1561, the spire of St. Paul’s cathedral was struck 
by lightning and consumed ; and in 1563 the plague again broke out in 
London with great violence. The first manufacture of knives in England, 
says the before quoted author of The Present State of England, was es¬ 
tablished in the same year by Thomas Matthews, a cutler on Fleet Bridge, 
fhe English company of merchant adventurers obtained a charter in 
the year 1564 from queen Elizabeth, which constituted them a body politic, 
and gave them many important privileges. 

In 1566 Sir Thomas Gresham, an opulent city merchant, built his cele¬ 
brated exchange, which was subsequently named royal by the queen. At 
his death he bequeathed it to the mayor and citizens of London for ever. 
The advantages which the city offered to foreigners were such, that in 1580 
• the numbers of Dutch, French, and Italians, had so increased that the loid 
mayor and aldermen remonstrated to the queen against the vast increase 
of new buildings and number of inhabitants within the city and its suburbs. 
Her majesty therefore issued a proclamation, by which it was forbidden to 
erect any new building within three miles from the city gates, where no 
former house could be remembered to have been by any one living. 

The tide machinery at London Bridge, for raising water for the supply of 
the inhabitants, was erected in 1582 by an ingenious German of the name 
of Peter Maurice, who received great encouragement from the corporation. 




XXX 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


During the period of the threatened Spanish invasion, the citizens o 
London aided the public cause by supplies of soldiers, money, and ot ler 
services of war. Sir Thomas Sutton, the founder of the charter house, an 
eminent London merchant, frustrated it for one year, by securing all t ie 
money in the bank of Genoa, at a considerable loss to himself. In 1589 
the corporation lent the queen a£l5,000, and supplied her with 1000 men, 
and in 1594 the lord mayor and common council fitted out six ships of war 
and two frigates, stored for six months, and added 450 soldiers. In the 
year 1599 the Spaniards threatened a second invasion, notwithstanding 
the dispersion of their celebrated armada in 1588, and the citizens not only 
aided the queen as before, but formed an honorary body guard from the 
most eminent of their body. 

Owing to the exorbitant price of pepper and other spices, as charged 
by the Dutch East India Company, the queen granted a charter in the 
year 1600 to a company of London merchants, under the denomination 
of “ the' Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading to the 
East Indies,” which has since risen to such great eminence both in the 
commercial and political world. 

In Rymer’s Foedera (vol. xvi. p. 448) is another proclamation of Eliza¬ 
beth for restraining the increase of buildings in the metropolis, by which 
she commands all persons to desist from any new buildings of any house 
or tenement within three miles of any of the gates of London, unfinished 
buildings on new foundations to be pulled down, and other restrictive 
clauses. It is a remarkable circumstance, that, notwithstanding the readi¬ 
ness with which the citizens of London always answered the demands of 
the queen, she granted them no charter or immunities, nor even confirmed 
those of her predecessors, during her long reign. In fact, as appears from 
Norton’s Commentaries, the citizens had no charters granted them from 
the fourth year of Edward YI. to the third of James I.; and yet as appears 

fmm flip Piistmn linn«p lictc in Arulprcnn’c TTictnv\r nF 


from the custom house lists, published in Anderson’s History of Commerce 
(vol. ii. p. 960), London exported at the latter end of Elizabeth’s reign 
three times as much as all the rest of England together. 

This great queen died on the 23rd of March, 1603, and was succeeded 
by king James VI. of Scotland, who was proclaimed in Clieapside by the 
lord mayor and citizens with the usual pomp and ceremony. Owing to 
the plague, which raged in this year with great violence, the public re¬ 
ception of the new king was deferred till the following spring, when he 
was received and entertained by the citizens in a most sumptuous manner. 

James also, in imitation of his predecessor, issued a proclamation against 
the extension of buildings in London, and granted his first charter, which 
gave the corporation many valuable privileges. In 1607 his majesty 
granted them a second and more extended charter, wherein, among other 





































































































































XXXI 


THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 

immunities, lie enlarged the limits of the civic jurisdiction by comprising 
witnin it the districts ol Duke’s place, Great and Little St. Bartholomews, 
Blackfriars’, Whitefriars’, and Cold Harbour, with a proviso (which they 
still claim) that the inhabitants of Blackfriars’ and Whitefriars’ shall he 
exempt from particular contributions of scot, and watch, and ward, and 
from the particular offices of constable and scavenger. 

In the year 1609 the king assigned the whole province of Ulster in 
Ireland to the citizens of London, on condition of their establishing an 
English colony in that country, under the government of a committee of 
aldermen and common councilmen, which is still continued under the title 
of the Irish Society of London. 

In this reign Sir Hugh Middleton formed that useful undertaking called 
the New River, which was begun in 1608 and completed in 1613 ; and in 
1611 Sir Thomas Sutton founded the establishment called the Charter- 
house, in the ancient convent of Carthusian monks, called the Chartreuse. 
In the twelfth year of his reign James granted the citizens his third and 
last charter, which confirmed the admeasurement of coals in the port of 
London from Yantlet Creek to Staines Bridge. In 1616 the citizens 
colonized the town of Derry, to which they gave the name of Londonderry, 
and built the town of Coleraine. In the same year they sent the first civic 
deputation to Ireland, and presented each of the above named corporations 
with a rich sword of State. 

The lord mayor and citizens took such umbrage at the king’s “ Book of 
Sports,” which tolerated certain sports on the Sabbath day, that, to show 
their contempt for his majesty’s orders, they stopped one of the royal 
carnages as it was driving through the city in the time of divine service. 
This gave great offence to the king, but after some concessions it was 
passed over. 

A resolution having been made of repairing the cathedral of St. Paul, 
the king, the prince of Wales, and many of the chief nobility went in 
great state from Whitehall to the city, on Sunday March 26th, 1620. The 
royal party was met at Temple Bar by the lord mayor, the aldermen, the 
sheriffs, and the rest of the corporation, and attended the cathedral, where 
divine service was performed, and measures were concerted for the execution 
of this great work, which was afterwards so splendidly executed by that 
able architect, the celebrated Inigo Jones. 

In the year 1624, an act of parliament was passed to make the river 
Thames navigable for barges, lighters and boats from London to Oxford; 
and on the 27th of March 1625 king James died at his favourite resi¬ 
dence at Theobalds, near Cheshunt in Hertfordshire. This circumstance 
being known, the lord mayor, aldermen, sheriffs and common council re¬ 
paired to Ludgate, where they met the privy council and the young king, 
whom they proclaimed with the usual ceremonies. 

2 z 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


XX XII 

The coronation and public entry of the king and his bride, to whom he 
had been married but a few days, was postponed as in the formei leign 
on account of the plague, which again ravaged the metropolis. Chailes 
had scarcely began to reign, when dissensions arose between him and the 
citizens, twenty of the principal of whom he imprisoned for refusing a loan 
of money. The disputes between the king and the citizens continued 
during the whole of his unhappy reign, and the levying of ship-money 
was a fruitful source of continual warfare between his ministers and the 
citizens. In 1636 an order was sent from the privy council commanding 
the lord mayor and aldermen to shut up all the shops in Goldsmith s Row, 
namely, the south side of Cheapside and Lombard Street, that were not oc¬ 
cupied by goldsmiths- This order not being complied with, it was backed 
by a decree of the court of star-chamber. The citizens paid no regard to 
either of these orders, and the king sent farther orders and farther threats, 
which were ecpially disregarded. 

Notwithstanding these disputes, the corporation received a charter from 
the king, for which they paid a large sum. It recites and confirms all the 
preceding charters from William the Conqueror to his own time, and 
grants the citizens farther immunities. This charter was not long re¬ 
spected; for in 1639 the ministry commenced a suit in the court of star- 
chamber against the lord mayor and citizens, which took from them all 
their dearly purchased possessions in Ulster, and they also amerced them 
in a fine of 5650,000. The parliament however interfered, and obliged the 
king to annul the decree and to confirm the grant of his father to the 
citizens. The city being called on in the year following to raise a large 
body of men, to serve against the Scots, a rising of the city apprentices 
took place, who marched to Lambeth in order to murder the archbishop of 
Canterbury, and, being afterwards joined by above 2000 of the populace, 
they rushed into St. Paul’s, drove out the high court of commissioners, 
and tore up all the benches, exclaiming no bishops ! no high commission. 

Such like turbulent scenes, between the king and the citizens, were of 
constant lecunence. I lie court amerced the corporation and imprisoned 
some of its aldermen for refusing compliance to its arbitrary commands. 
At last the differences between them arose to such a height that the king 
foibade the citizens from presenting any petition to him concerning redress 
of grievances. 

On the king’s return from Scotland, he was received by the lord mayor 
and corporation, with great distinction. After dining with them at Guild¬ 
hall, the king embraced the lord mayor at parting, and invited him and the 
lest of the aldermen to his palace at Whitehall the ensuing day ; where 
he made the lord mayor a baronet, and knighted all the aldermen who 
attended. 

Notwithstanding this apparent cordiality, the king almost immediately 


THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


XXXIII 


afterwards deprived the citizens of their command over the Tower, and ap¬ 
pointed one ot his own officers to govern it. On the dispute between the 
king and the house of commons, when he attempted to seize five of its 
members in person, they fled to the city for protection. The citizens armed 
themselves in their defence. The king came into the city and demanded 
the impeached members of the common council, who with great firmness 
refused to deliver them up. The citizens delivered this refusal by way of 
remonstrance, directed to the king, from the lord mayor, aldermen, and 
common council. 

The grand committee appointed by the house of commons, to deliberate 
on the state of the nation, assembled for safety in Guildhall, and after¬ 
wards accompanied the five accused members in great state to West¬ 
minster, where they were received by the city trained bands, who were 
publicly thanked for their services, and ordered to attend the house daily. 
After Charles’s departure from the metropolis, the parliament demanded 
large supplies of men and money from the corporation, and on its refusal 
they committed the lord mayor, Sir Richard Gurney, to the Tower. 

Shortly after the battle of Edgehill, the common council passed an act 
for fortifying the city, which was done with such despatch, that a rampart, 
with bastions, redoubts and other bulwarks, was shortly erected round the 
cities of London and Westminster, and the borough of Southwark. The 
citizens took such a decided part in the civil war between Charles and 
his parliament, that, on hearing of a proposed reconciliation, the lord 
mayor convened a court of common council, who presented a petition to 
the house of commons against any accommodation. They also in 1644 
sent two well provided regiments to the assistance of Sir William Waller, 
the parliamentary general. 

After the decisive battle of Naseby had secured the triumph of the 
parliamentary army, both houses of parliament attended a thanksgiving 
sermon at Christ Church, Newgate Street, and were afterwards entertained 
by the corporation. The victorious party kept up the best possible terms 
with the citizens, who aided them by loans and contributions. When the 
house of commons had become openly a tool of Cromwell, and threw off 
the mask, violent quarrels took place between the leaders of the parlia¬ 
mentary faction and the corporation. At the tual of the king, social of 
the leading citizens were appointed among the number of the king’s 
judges, but, after his condemnation and death, many of the aldermen ab¬ 
solutely refused to proclaim a commonwealth. 

On this overthrow of our ancient monarchy, the house of commons 
usurped the supreme power, and commanded the lord mayor to proclaim 
an act for the abolition of monarchy. This was peremptorily refused, and 
the house immediately committed the refractory mayor to the Tower, fined 
him <£2000, and degraded him from his office. Cromwell however, finding 


XXXIV 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


it to liis interest, became reconciled with the citizens, and bon owed a large 
sum of money from them to defray the expenses of his expedition to lie- 
land. On the installation of the usurper, at Whitehall, the lord mayor 
and entire corporation attended the ceremony, and invited the protectoi 
to a grand entertainment, who in gratitude returned thanks to his faithful 
citizens, and conferred the kingly honour of knighthood on the loid 
mayor. 

Cromwell and the citizens remained on fair terms till the protector’s 
death, on the 3rd of September, 1658, when the lord mayor and the privy 
council proclaimed his son Richard lord protector of the kingdom. Dis¬ 
putes between the new protector and the citizens soon began, and the city 
was forthwith put into a posture of defence. The council of state ordered 
general Monk to take possession of the city with his army, who, how¬ 
ever, after a slight attempt at destroying the gates, endeavoured to keep on 
good terms with the citizens, who, in return, elected him major general of 
their forces. 

Monk and his party, finding all things ripe for the restoration of the 
exiled monarch, sent him an invitation to return to his dominions. The 
king sent grateful answers to the parliament and his friends, and a letter 
to the lord mayor, aldermen, and common council, who immediately sent 
fourteen of their body, with a present of £10,000, and an order that 
Richmond Park, which had been given to them by Cromwell, should be 
presented to his majesty. The day following he was proclaimed in the city 
by the lord mayor and corporation amidst the universal and joyful accla¬ 
mations of the citizens. The king received the civic deputies with un¬ 
feigned joy and conferred upon them the honours of knighthood. He also 
confirmed to the city their estates in Ireland, of which they had been ille¬ 
gally deprived by his father, by which tenure the corporation and the. twelve 
chief livery companies still hold them; and conferred upon them that which 
Mr. Norton emphatically calls a grand inspeximus charter. This charter 
is usually appealed to as the text of the city charters, and is generally 
called by pre-eminence the inspeximus charter. In the same year the 
Royal Society was established, which has ever since retained its original 
high rank in science. 

In the beginning of May, 1665, London was again visited by the most 
dreadful of those periodical maladies called the plague, which had so often 
ravaged this city. This mortality, which swept away upwards of 90,000 
persons, has been admirably narrated by Daniel Defoe, to whose inter¬ 
esting pages our readers are referred for the particulars of its melancholy 
details. 

In the following year occurred that dreadful visitation the great fire of 
London, which, although it was at the time a great calamity and public 
loss, may be truly considered as a benefit to all who have succeeded that 


THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


XXXV 


calamitous period. By its means the city was purified from its narrow 
and incommodious streets and infectious timber houses, and it occasioned 
a more noble city to rise upon its ruins. The city of Charles II. and of 
Wren, however it may he surpassed in point of private buildings and 
magnificent streets, by the improvements of George IV. and the able archi¬ 
tects of our day, as the pages and illustrations of this work show, yet ex¬ 
hibits in its beautiful cathedral, and other works of that great architect, 
buildings of admirable beauty and proportion. 

Charles immediately assembled both houses of parliament, who passed 
an act for erecting a court of judicature to settle all the differences 
between landlords and tenants ; and shortly after, another for rebuilding the 
city, which contained rules and directions for all persons concerned therein. 
The court of common council also passed an act for regulating the widths 
and other details of the proposed new streets and thoroughfares, which 
was so approved, by the king and privy council, that it was confirmed 
and directed to be enforced by an order of council on the 8th of May. 
Many of these orders of council, printed for the only time from a manu¬ 
script book of orders, in the life of Sir Christopher Wren by the author of 
this work, and formerly in his possession, but now the property of professor 
Soane of the Royal Academy, prove the great zeal of the king and all 
his court to rebuild the city with splendour; but it was counteracted by 
private interests and cabals. Many other public acts and edicts, both of 
parliament and of the common council, were passed for accomplishing this 
great undertaking; and on the 29th of October 1675, when Sir Robert 
Viner commenced his mayoralty, the king dined with the corporation at 
Guildhall, and accepted the freedom of the city from the hands of Sir 
Thomas Player, the chamberlain. 

In 1676 a great part of the borough of Southwark was destroyed by 
fire, but was rebuilt under the direction of commissioners in a similar 
style of improvement with those going on in the city of London; which 
was attempted to be burned a second time in 1679. 

After Charles II. found himself secure upon his throne, he began like 
his predecessors to fleece and punish the citizens, who in return opposed 
his oppressive measures with great firmness. Party dissensions ran high, 
particularly against the Duke of York on account of his religion. The king, 
disliking the proceedings of the corporation, proceeded to still more arbi¬ 
trary measures, and issued a writ of Quo Warranto against the city to 
try the validity of its charter, asserting that its liberties and privileges 
were usurped. In the Trinity term following (1683), chief justice Jones 
pronounced the charter to be forfeited. Eight of the aldermen were de¬ 
graded, and also the lord mayor, a new one being appointed by the king, 
to continue during his pleasure. The recorder was displaced by one 
of the king’s partizans, and in fact the city was arbitrarily deprived of all 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 


XXXVI 

its rights and privileges. Among the public improvements of this period 
must be mentioned that about the year 1683 the delivery of letters by t le 
penny post was first established in London, by an upholstcier of the name 

of Murray. 

In 1685 an event occurred which has been of more importance to the 
population and manufactures of the city, than almost any otliei during these 
turbulent times; namely the revocation of the edict of Is antes by Louis 
XIV. This religious persecution drove eight hundred thousand industrious 
artizans and manufacturers from France into England. The greater part 
of these refugees, who were principally silk weavers and dyeis, and inge¬ 
nious manufacturers, settled themselves in the neighbourhood of Spital- 
fields, St. Giles, and Soho. That faithless and arbitrary monarch Charles 
II. died on the 6tli of February 1685; but his successor James II., 
who remembered the city’s attacks upon him and his religion, did not 
prove much better. Charles satisfied himself with seizing only the city 
charters; but James attempted to infringe those of all the corporate com¬ 
panies, whom he conceived to be. the most effectual barriers against his 
premeditated introduction of popery. He imprisoned alderman Cornish, 
and afterwards hanged him opposite his house at the end of Iving Street, 
Cheapside. 

Finding himself deserted by almost all his subjects, James began to con¬ 
ciliate the citizens, and on the 6tli of October, 1688, restored the city 
charter by the hands of his chancellor Jeffries, and, at a subsequent court 
of common council, an order was made to restore the liverymen of the 
several companies who had been deprived of their privileges. 

On the flight of James, and the landing of the Prince of Orange, the 
lords spiritual and temporal assembled in Guildhall, where they signed and 
published their celebrated declaration, which sealed the liberties of their 
country. The Prince of Orange was invited to assist in forming a free 
government, and in settling the administration of public affairs. This 
public act was immediately followed by an address from the lord mayor, 
aldermen and common council, and another from the court of lieutenancy 
of the city, expressing similar sentiments. Many tumults took place in the 
city during this state of interregnum; and in one of them the infamous 
judge Jeffries was discovered in the disguise of a sailor at Wapping, 
waiting for an opportunity to escape from a country whose justice he 
had so abused, where he was seized by the populace, and beaten to such a 
degree, that he shortly after died of his bruises. 

On the abdication of James, the Prince of Orange called a council of 
such persons as had been members of any of Charles the second’s parlia¬ 
ments, together with the lord mayor, the aldermen, and fifty of the court of 
common council, to consult on the settlement of the government; and raised 
a loan from the city of two hundred thousand pounds to pay the soldiers. 





THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. XXXVII 

The government being finally settled in the persons of William Prince of 
Orange and the princess Mary his consort, daughter of the dethroned 
monarch, as lung and queen of England, they were proclaimed in the city 
■\\ith the usual honours, and many acts of courtesy passed between the 
king and the citizens. He restored the charter of Charles II., under 
the authority of an act of parliament, and granted them another, which 
constituted certain of the aldermen justices of the peace within the city, 
and restored the citizens to all their ancient rights and privileges. 

In the year 1694 the establishment of the Orphan’s fund took place, 
and that now great commercial and political corporation the Bank of 
England was instituted. This year is remarkable also for the death of 
queen Mary, on which occasion the lord mayor and corporation presented 
an address of condolence to the king. In 1697 the king visited the corpo¬ 
ration on his return from Holland after the treaty of Bhyswick, and was 
received with cordial and sincere regard. 

On the death of James II., in France, the French king caused his 
son to be proclaimed king in his stead, notwithstanding the late treaty of 
peace with William. This conduct was so highly resented by the citizens, 
that they presented a very spirited address to the lords justices who 
governed in the king’s absence. 

King William dying at Hampton Court on the 21st of February, 1702, 
the princess Anne, daughter of James, was proclaimed queen, to the uni¬ 
versal satisfaction of the nation. On the great victory over the French, her 
majesty attended a public thanksgiving at St. Paul’s, accompanied by both 
houses of parliament, when the citizens rendered the ceremony more than 
usually splendid. 

In 1703 the city was doomed to another great calamity; for in the 
night of the 16th of November there happened the most dreadful storm 
of wind that had occurred in the memory of man. It began about ten 
at night, and raged with unabated violence till seven in the morning. The 
damage done to the buildings of the metropolis was prodigious. The 
newly built and the then building churches were variously injured, and 
the damage done in the city alone has been estimated at two millions of 
money. It was on this occasion, when Sir Christopher Wren being informed 
that all his new steeples had been damaged, replied with the rapidity of 
thought “ not St. Dunstan’s I am sureand the mathematical architect 
was right, for it was almost the only one that was perfectly undamaged. 

The standards, colours and other military trophies taken by the duke of 
Marlborough at Blenheim, having been deposited in the Tower, were es¬ 
corted in grand procession through the city, and put up in Westminster 
Hall. 

The year 1710 is celebrated in civic history as that wherein fifty new 
churches were ordered by act of parliament to be erected within the cities 


XXXVIII A BRIEf VIEW 01 

of London and Westminster, two shillings a chaldron being laid on coals to • 
defray the expenses; and 1713 for the peace with France, when both 
houses of parliament came in procession into the city and joined the lord 
mayor and citizens in a public act of thanksgiving in St. Paul’s cathedral 

Queen Anne died on the 1st of August 1714, when the elector of 
Hanover was proclaimed king, with the usual solemnities, as Geoige I., 
and was attended by the corporation. He knighted the leading members 
and dined in public with them on the following lord mayor’s day at Guild¬ 
hall, when he conferred a patent of baronetcy on the lord mayor, and gave 
£1000 to the poor debtors. 

On the threatened invasion, the city displayed its usual loyalty when 
ever their king behaved with even tolerable propriety, and the rebellion 
in Scotland under the earl of Mar was but of short duration. The year 
1720 will always be memorable in our history for the celebrated scheme of 
plunder known by the name of the Soutli-sea bubble, which reduced 
nobles, merchants, bankers, clergymen, lawyers and tradesmen to utter 
ruin. 

In consequence of the great increase of the western suburb of London, 
in 1722, the society called the Chelsea water-works company was es¬ 
tablished by the authority of parliament to supply them with water; and 
another useful act for the regulation of party-walls, and water-spouts over¬ 
hanging public streets, was also enacted. In 1724 Guy’s hospital, of 
which an account will be found in our further pages, was built and en¬ 
dowed by a bookseller whose name it bears, and the city increased in 
wealth and importance. 

On the 11th of June 1727 the king died at Osnaburgh in Germany, and 
was succeeded by his son George II., who was immediately proclaimed 
by the lord mayor and corporation in the ancient and usual manner, and 
publicly congratulated by them on his accession to the throne. The king 
and queen afterwards dined at Guildhall, where they were entertained with 
great splendour and hospitality. On the 26th of February 1733 the cor¬ 
poration petitioned the house of commons and obtained leave by act of 
parliament to stop up and arch over Fleet ditch, and subsequently erected 
Fleet market on its summit, which has been very recently taken down 
and converted into Farringdon Street. Fleet market was opened on the 
30th of September 1737, and was taken down about the same month of 
the year 1829. 

In 1738 the citizens rendered themselves unpopular with the court party 
by their strenuous and successful opposition to the general excise laws. 
The miscarriage of this odious measure was celebrated by public rejoicings 
all over the metropolis, and the effigy of Sir Robert Walpole, the minister 
who projected it, was burnt amidst great acclamations. Sir Robert retaliated 
by calling the citizens a set of sturdy beggars , and circulated printed lists 




the EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 


XXXIX 


ol the members of the corporation with the addition of their several trades 
and companies, in order to bring them into contempt by showing the low 
nature of the callings of many of them. The citizens again testified their 
dislike of the premier, by rejecting the senior alderman from the office of 
lord mayor for voting in favour of the minister. 

Until about this period no particular building had been provided for the 
use of the lord mayor for the time being. Each chief magistrate held 
his mayoralty either at the hall of his company, or in a private mansion 
of his own, erected or enlarged for the purpose; of which private man¬ 
sions there are yet many remaining in the city. This method being found 
inconvenient, and deficient in appropriate grandeur for the growing import¬ 
ance of the office, the corporation resolved to build a mansion for the use 
of the lord mayor. After much deliberation the site of Stocks market, 
which had recently been removed to Fleet market, was fixed upon, and the 
first stone was laid by the lord mayor (aldennan Perry) on the 25th of 
October, 1739, with great ceremony. It was finished in 1753, Sir Crisp 
Gascoigne being the first lord mayor who inhabited it. The year 1739 is 
also celebrated in our history for the establishment and erection of the 
Foundling Hospital. On the 15th of August, 1741, the king granted the 
city a new charter, which after reciting the charter of Charles II., and 
also that of William and Mary (which only appointed certain of the 
aldermen to be justices, and required either the mayor or recorder to he 
of the quorum), constitutes* all the aldermen for the time being justices 
of the peace, and makes the mayor, the recorder, and all those aldermen 
who have passed the chair, of the quorum. This charter is the last which 
has been granted to the city. 

On the erection of the rebel standard in Scotland by one of the Pre¬ 
tender’s sons, a message was sent by the king to the lord mayor and 
corporation, who waited on his majesty with a loyal address. This was 
followed on the succeeding day by one from the merchants of the city. 
The principal inhabitants formed themselves into volunteer corps for the 
national defence, and the members of the inns of court formed themselves 
into a regiment under the command of the lord chief justice Welles. The 
corporation subscribed a voluntary contribution of money, in which they 
were joined by the quakers, who transmitted warm woollen clothing to the 
army. The close of this rebellion by the battle of Culloden is well known, 
and the corporation sincerely congratulated their constitutional king on 
the happy event. The surplus of the money raised by the corporation, and 
not required for the public service, was distributed to various useful cha¬ 
rities. 

On the 18th of December, 1755, the court of common council resolved 


* Norton’s Commentaries, p. 530. 
3 A 


XL 


A BRIEF VIEW OF 

to petition parliament for leave to build a new bridge over the Thames at 
Blackfriars, which was presented on the 13th of January o owing, am an 
act of parliament shortly after obtained for that purpose. ns P c ™ 1S 
also celebrated for the establishment of that useful charity, the Marine 

Society, by the benevolent exertions of Jonas Hanway. 

The city experienced another calamity from the ravages of nre, by t ic 
total destruction of the timber bridge that was erected over the Thames, 
while the last important additions, repairs, and improvements were going 
on. The colours taken from the French at Louisburgli were escorted m 
grand procession on the 6th of September, 1758, from Kensington Palace 
to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where they were deposited as national trophies; 
and on the 16th a number of pieces of artillery and mortars taken at Chei- 
burgli were similarly conducted through the city to the Tower. 

The first step towards the many recent improvements in the city may be 
said to have been taken about this time; for at a court of common council 
held on the 17tli of June, 1760 (the same month wherein the first pile was 
driven for the building of Blackfriars’ Bridge), the committee of city lands 
were empowered to put in execution an act of parliament passed in the 
ensuing sessions for widening and improving the several streets in the 
city. Their first work was to open the east end of Crutclied Friars into 
the Minories. The city gates were also sold and pulled down; and the 
statue of queen Elizabeth, which stood on the western side of Ludgate, 
was purchased by alderman Gosling, and set up against the east end of 
St. Dunstan’s church in Fleet Street, from which place it will shortly 
be removed when that ancient edifice is pulled down. 

A few days after the king had been waited on with a congratulatory ad¬ 
dress, by the lord mayor and corporation, on the completion of the con¬ 
quest of Canada by the capture of Montreal, he expired suddenly, being the 
25th of October, 1760, and was succeeded by his grandson George III. 

The new king was proclaimed on the following day in the front of 
Saville House in Leicester Square, his then residence, in presence of the 
leading nobility and gentry, and the lord mayor, aldermen, and common 
council, who afterwards proclaimed the youthful monarch with the cus¬ 
tomary formalities in the usual places within the city. 

No reign has ever been of more importance in our history than that 
of George III., whether it be considered for its duration, its military and 
political struggles, or the great improvements in the public and private 
buildings that have taken place in the metropolis : improvements, however, 
that are honourably rivalled by those of our present king. 

The mayor and corporation attended the coronation of the king and queen, 
and their majesties conferred the honour of dining with them in public at 
Guildhall. The court of common council erected a statue of the king in the 
Royal Exchange, and voted portraits of their majesties to be put up in 





THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. XLI 

Guildhall; other civilities and courtesies passed between the new king and 
t e citizens, which were not of longer duration than those of their prede¬ 
cessors. On the 12th of August, 1762, the queen gave birth to a prince, 
ns piesent majesty, and on the 14th the lord mayor, aldermen, and com¬ 
mon council, waited on the king with a congratulatory address. 

Shortly after this event, the first disputes between the king and the 
citizens began by the arrest of John Wilkes, under the authority of the now 
exploded system of general warrants. These disputes continued for a 
length of time, with little credit and less profit to either party. 

Among events of more peaceful and lasting interest, the common council 
voted <£500 to the Society of Arts in the Adelphi, and the king established 
the Royal Academy of Aids. On the 14th of May, 1770, the lord mayor 
(Beckford) laid the first stone of the new prison of Newgate, which was 
the last public act of that eminent person’s life, whose merits were ac¬ 
knowledged by his fellow citizens in erecting a bad statue in Guildhall to 
his memory. 

About this period the corporation got into a dispute with the house of 
commons, whose authority in the city they denied by refusing to execute 
their warrants, and even by discharging the prisoners that were arrested 
by them. The house resented this contempt by committing the lord mayor 
(Crosby) and alderman Oliver to the Tower. The conduct of these two 
magistrates was so much approved by the common council that a vote of 
thanks was given them, and a committee was appointed to conduct their de¬ 
fence at the expense of the city. At the prorogation of the parliament they 
were liberated as a matter of course, and the procession from the Tower to 
the Mansion House partook of the nature of a triumph. 

In the year 1777 the angry feelings which had been playing about the 
political horizon, between the British colonies in America and the mother 
country, began to assume a more decided feature, and the citizens of Lon¬ 
don took an active part in the discussions. Warm disputes also arose rer- 
lative to the right of impressing seamen within the city, which was 
strenuously opposed by the corporation. The civil war which now raged 
between England and her American colonies was opposed by the citizens 
in every possible way, and the opponents of government were flatteringly 
received in all their public meetings. John Wilkes was elected cham¬ 
berlain of the city on the 22nd of November, 1779, by a very large 
majority. 

In the following year the city was disgraced by those memorable riots 
which had religion for their pretended basis. Its principal leader, lord 
George Gordon, was at length committed to Newgate, and the peace of the 
city re-established. The lord mayor, alderman Kennett, was tried for his 
misconduct during these disgraceful scenes and found guilty. 


XLI1 


A BRIEF VIEW OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF LONDON. 

Owing to reasons which have never been publicly acknowledged, the 
health of the king suffered extremely, and his majesty’s mental powers 
sank under their exertions. This occasioned great and real public grief; 
for the private virtues of George III. were acknowledged by all classes of 
his subjects. The corporation and members of the city took part with 
the ministry in the memorable regency question, which was suddenly put 
an end to by the king’s recovery. On the 10th of March, 1789, the day on 
which his majesty’s recovery was officially announced to the public, the 
whole metropolis was splendidly illuminated, and all ranks joined in con¬ 
gratulations. On the 19th the corporation presented a loyal and sincere 
address, and on the 23rd of April his majesty, accompanied by the queen, 
the royal family, both houses of parliament, and the whole corporation of 
London, attended a public service at St. Paul’s cathedral, to return thanks 
for his recovery. The procession from Westminster, and the reception in 
the city, were equally grand and suitable to the occasion. 

The next occurrences that are memorable in the city history are the long 
revolutionary war with France, the peace, the popular regency and peaceful 
reign of our present king, during which period the metropolis has received 
those splendid improvements that are the subjects of our other volume. 
“It is true,” says Mr. Norton in his commentaries, “that many events, 
exciting intense temporary interest of a political nature, have from time 
to time agitated the city; but as none of them produced a lasting, if any, 
effect on its genuine corporate privileges or constitution, it is conceived the 
history of them may be properly left to those volumes which have treated 
of them at large.” 











































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 


Lo! numerous domes, a Burlington confess- 
For Kings and Senates fit, the Palace see! 

The Temple breathing a religious awe ; 

E’en fram’d with elegance the plain retreat. 

The Private Dwelling. Certain in his aim. 

Taste never idly working, saves expense. 

Lo ! Stately Streets , lo ! Squares that court the breeze, 

Lo! rayed from cities o’er the brightened land. 

Connecting sea to sea, the solid Road. 

Lo! the proud Arch, no vile exactors stand. 

With easy sweep, bestrides the chasing flood. 

Thomson. 


VAST AND ENCREASING IMPROVEMENTS—CULTIVATION OF ARCHITECTURE OF 

NATIONAL IMPORTANCE-ARTS AND ARTISTS PATRONIZED BY THE WISEST 

AND GREATEST MONARCHS-EARLIEST IMPROVEMENTS OF LONDON-PARISH 

OF MARY-LE-BONE—REGENT’S PARK-ORIGINAL GRANTS, &C.-GEOGRAPHICAL 

BOUNDARIES-MR. NASIl’s PLAN-VILLAGE OF M ARY-LF.-BONE-VARIOUS 

EMPLOYMENTS-NEW CHURCHES, CHAPELS, &C.—TOUR OF THE NEW PARK— 

ENTRANCE LODGES—TERRACES-VILLAS, &C.-CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL 

REMARKS. 

Augustus made it one of his proudest boasts, that he found 
Rome of brick, and left it of marble. The reign and regency 
of George the Fourth have scarcely done less, for the vast 
and increasing Metropolis of the British empire : by increasing 
its magnificence and its comforts; by forming healthy streets 
and elegant buildings, instead of pestilential alleys and 
squalid hovels; by substituting rich and varied architecture 




<> METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

and park-like scenery, for paltry cabins and monotonous cow^ 
iairs ; by making solid roads and public ways, scarcely inferior 
to those of ancient Rome, which have connected the extremest 
points of the empiVe, and have brought its provinces and sea¬ 
ports, many days journey nearer to the Metropolis, instead of 
the miry roads through which our respected ancestors ploughed 
their weary ways, from London to Bath, “ by the blessing of 
God, in four daysand, by beginning, and continuing with 
a truly national perseverance, a series of desirable improve¬ 
ments, that bid fair to render London, the Rome of modern 
history. 

So rapidly indeed are these improvements taking place around 
us, that the absence of a few months from London, produces 
revolutions in sites, and alterations in appearances, that are 
almost miraculous, and cause the denizen to feel himself a 
stranger in his own city. 

Could our late revered monarch, the first English sovereign 
who had the taste to patronize arts and artists, since the days 
of the elegant minded patrons of Rubens, Vandyck and Inigo 
Jones, revisit the country of his birth and of his love; and 
witness the gigantic alterations and tasteful improvements that 
have been so rapidly and effectually made, under the auspices 
of his illustrious son and successor; he would be lost amid the 
architectural wonders (the merits of which he was so able to 
appreciate) of that very Metropolis, in which he lived and 
reigned for more than half a century. 

The business of this work is to record and describe the 
“ wonderful alterations” that have taken place in those com¬ 
paratively short periods; and have rendered the present sera 
the Augustan age of England. 

Among the glories of this age, the historian will have to 
record the conversion of dirty alleys, dingy courts and squalid 
dens of misery and crime, almost under the walls of our royal 
palaces, into “ stately streets,” to “ squares that court the breeze,” 
to palaces and mansions, to elegant private dwellings, to rich 
and costly shops, filled with the productions of every clime, to 
magnificent ware-rooms, stowed with the ingenious and valuable 
manufactuies of our artisans and mechanics, giving activity to 
commeice with all the enviable results of national prosperity. 
Fields, that were in our times appropriated to pasturage, are 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


3 


now become the gay and tasteful abodes of splendid opulence, 
and of the triumphs of the peaceful arts. 

The greatest statesmen and philosophers have ever con¬ 
sidered the cultivation of architecture, and the building and 
adornment of cities, as of primary and political importance. 
Plato attributes the origin of legislature to the cultivation of 
the arts. Public buildings are the most lasting and effective 
ornaments of a country; and, at the same time, the cheapest 
that a people can obtain. By their means nations are established, 
and obtain “ a local habitation and a name ?’ by them are 
opulent and ingenious foreigners attracted ; and, in most cases, 
more money is brought into a country than all the cost that 
was originally expended in their construction. It was so at 
Versailles, as every body knows; and similar causes will always 
produce similar effects. Such works not only attract great and 
wealthy foreigners, but at the same time they increase commerce, 
create wealth, give employment to the labourer, the artisan and 
the artist; and make a people love their native country; which 
is a passion that is the parent of all great actions that conduce 
to the public wealth. 

The most learned and philosophic architect, that perhaps ever 
lived, Sir Christopher Wren, in allusion to such subjects, says, # 
“ The emulation of the cities of Greece was the true cause of 
their greatness. The obstinate valour of the Jews, occasioned 
by the love of their temple, was a cement that held together 
that people, in former ages, through infinite changes. The care 
of public decency and convenience was a great cause of the 
establishment of the low countries, and of many cities in the 
world. Modern Rome subsists still, by the ruins and imitations 
of the old; as does Jerusalem by the temple of the sepulchre, 
and other remains of Helena’s zeal.” 

In this opinion of eminent statesmen and philosophers have 
the greatest princes and monarchs ever coincided. They have 
invariably distinguished themselves by a just and honourable 
patronage of the arts, of literature, of philosophy, of science, 
and of the other heaven-directed workings of the human mind. 
It has, fortunately for humanity, almost always happened, that 
the greatest men of every kind,' in art, in literature, in philo- 


* See Elmes’s Life of Wren, Appendix, p. 119 

c 


4 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

sophy, in science, in politics, and in warfare, have geneially 
been contemporaries, and flourished resplendently in a compara- 
tively short period of time. 

When Apelles, Praxiteles, Lysippus and other eminent 
artists flourished in Greece, her greatest poets, orators, and 
philosophers were alive; and Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Demos~ 
thenes, Isocrates, Thucydides, Xenophon, iEschylus, Euripides, 
Sophocles and Menander, flourished almost in the same age. 
The ages of Pericles, of Augustus, and of Louis the Fourteenth, 
were similarly celebrated for their several constellations of 
artists, philosophers, statesmen and warriors; and the Augus¬ 
tan age of George the Fourth, emblazoned as it is by a 
galaxy of talent in poetry, in the sublimest works of imagina¬ 
tion, such as no nation has hitherto surpassed, in legislation, in 
the art of war, and in the more peaceful arts and sciences, will 
be no less the subject of admiration from the future historian 
and posterity. It is also no less remarkable, that the duration 
of these brilliant epochs or times of perfection, have generally 
been brief in proportion to their splendour. May the duration 
of our present splendid epoch, contradict the history of past 
ages, and be no less continuative than brilliant. 

The honours conferred by our present enlightened sovereign 
on literature and the arts, followed up as they are by the 
legislature of the country, and by our leading nobility and 
gentry, in the establishment of national libraries, galleries 
of sculpture and of painting, have given a life and spirit to the 
genius of our times, that cannot fail of producing an abundant 
harvest of the richest quality. 

The professors of the fine arts, poets, and other cultivators of 
the human mind, have ever been considered among the benefactors 
of mankind, and honoured as such by the great. The Greeks 
rendered as much honour to Polygnotus, as they could have 
bestowed either upon Lycurgus or Solon. They prepared mag¬ 
nificent public entries for him into cities that he had decorated 
with his pencil; and appointed, by a decree of the council of 
Amphictyons, that he should be maintained at the public expense 
wherever he might choose to go. 

Alexander the Great and Demetrius Poliorcetes, are alike 
celebrated for their attentions to illustrious artists; and paid 
the greatest homage to the rare talent and superior merit of 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


those extraordinary men, who flourished in their days. Alex¬ 
ander issued a remarkable edict in favour of three of the most 
eminent artists of his day, whom he honoured with his friend¬ 
ship, by which he granted exclusively to Apelles, the privilege 
of painting him ; to Lysippus, according to Pliny, and to Poly- 
cletes, according to Apuleius, that of representing him in 
bronze statues; and to Pyrgoteles that of engraving his por¬ 
trait. Rightly judging, says Cicero, that the skill of those 
two great masters (Apelles and Lysippus), would also immor¬ 
talize his ; for it was not to please them that he published that 
edict, so much as to enhance his own glory. 

One of the greatest emperors of the west, since the days of 
Charlemagne, conferred the highest honours of Chivalry upon 
Titian ; Francis the first, one of the most enlightened of mo- 
narchs, honoured Da Vinci in the highest degree; and our 
days have witnessed our own sovereigns honouring and de¬ 
lighting in the works of eminent artists, embellishing our 
metropolis with grand and magnificent edifices, by munificent 
and splendid presents of books, pictures and statues to our 
public institutions; by honours conferred upon splendid talent 
and art, as well as upon eminence in legislation and warfare. 

Upon works such as these, alike worthy of a great monarch, 
and a brave, free and enlightened people, Agrippa, the son-in-law 
of Augustus, made a magnificent harangue, worthy of the first 
and greatest citizen of Rome: in which he shews, by several 
reasons, how useful it would be to the state, to exhibit publicly 
the finest pieces of antiquity of every kind ; for the purpose 
of exciting a noble emulation in the youth; which, no doubt, 
he adds, would be much better than to banish them into 
the country, to the gardens and pleasure grounds of 
private persons. 

Such has been the conduct of the monarch and legislature 
of these kingdoms, in establishing academies and societies, 
founding and enlarging libraries, museums, galleries and in¬ 
stitutions, enlarging and improving the metropolis; for the 
magnificence of the buildings, the multitude of good pic¬ 
tures, statues and other monuments of the good taste, munifi¬ 
cence and genius of a people, are among the greatest embel¬ 
lishments of a state, and wise princes and enlightened legislators 
do well in encouraging them. 


M ETROPOLIT AN IMPROVEMENTS. 


Persons who remember London as it vjas thirty years ago, 
may proudly say, regarding it as it is, 

“ Look on tins picture anti on this.” 

No city in Europe has undergone such rapid changes and im¬ 
provements as this metropolis. The first great change was oc¬ 
casioned by that awful conflagration, (calamity it can scarcely 
he called by us), which consumed the greater part of the an¬ 
cient city, and purified it from plagues, pestilence and perpetual 
fear of incendiaries. The magnanimity with which the citizens 
sustained the calamity which destroyed their houses and estates, 
the greatness of mind with which they beheld the ashes of their 
houses, and gates and temples, was a theme of admiration to 
all their contemporaries. They immediately set about rebuild¬ 
ing their city, while its ruins were still smoaking. Wren, 
Evelyn, Hooke and others presented designs for the new city, 
and the King, his brother the Duke of York, and the whole 
court aided the undertaking. The Royal Society forwarded 
their views. Wren’s plan* was adopted by the King and privy 
council. It possessed such qualities for security, convenience 
and beauty, that if it had been executed, the city would not 
have been in that disgraceful, deserted, and dilapidated state, 
that a comparison with its improved and improving sister of 
Westminster, has now rendered it. The hurry of rebuilding, 
and the disputes about property, prevented Wren’s beautiful 
plan from being adopted, and the city became one, whose streets 
are lanes, and whose lanes are alleys. The sooner the corpora¬ 
tion (who have recently appointed a committee of improve¬ 
ments, which it is hoped will not render their important office a 
sinecure) remove this opprobrium from their city, and emanci¬ 
pate their fine cathedral from its monstrous thraldom, the sooner 
will their city be enabled to hold its due rank in the splendid 
metropolis of the empire. 

The next alteration or improvement of consequence was the 
removal of all the signs from the public streets that cut such a 
grotesque figure in Hogarth’s pictures, and the taking away of 
the projecting water spouts, and dripping eaves, that made “ the 

* For an engraving and description of this plan, sec Elmcs’s Life of Wren, 
1'. 197. et. scq. and Appendix No. 13. p. 81. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


? 

art of walking London streets,” so much more difficult when it 
was sung by Gay, than in our improved days. 

The new thoroughfare called Skinner Street, after an Aider- 
man of that name, whom the city deigned to honour, was the 
next metropolitan improvement of utility; and certainly the use¬ 
ful was more sought after than the ornamental by the then 
city Vitruvius. Picket Street near Temple Bar, wherein another 
Alderman’s name is immortalised to puzzle posterity, is another 
of the useful improvements by the corporation of London. 

The parish of St. Mary-le-bone succeeds, though not in strict 
chronological order, to the improvements within the walls, and 
the name of “ the Mary-bone school of temple builders has 
damned ” its masters and founders “ to everlasting fame,” by a 
proverb and bye-word. Clipstone Street, Titchfield Street and 
their neighbourhood present their venerable ruins to the notice 
of the artist and antiquary. 

The city of Westminster deserves, and shall receive in its 
proper place, the honour due for its alterations, improvements 
and restorations, particularly those in and about its venerable 
minster, and the two houses of parliament. The parish oi 
St. Pancras, and the Duke of Bedford’s estate in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Bloomsbury, and the New Road, present claims to 
commendation, and shall be noticed in their turns, as shall every 
other of importance. 

But our immediate object is with those of our own days, 
those which are arising around us from the foot of Primrose 
Hill, to the banks of Le Notre’s canal in the park, which have 
metamorphosed Mary-le-bone park farm and its cow-sheds, into 
a rural city of almost eastern magnificence; and changed 
Swallow Street and its filthy labyrinthine environs, into the 
most picturesque and splendid street in the metropolis. 

Therefore, although it is intended that our work shall com¬ 
prehend a succinct, but COMPLETE HISTORY of the 
BRITISH METROPOLIS, yet, with a view of gratifying 
that interest which is universally excited, we shall begin with 
the Regent’s Park, and proceed onwards through the most 
splendid and magnificent architectural undertakings now in 
progress. 


8 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


The Regent’s Park. 

This compages of splendid architecture, and tasteful garden¬ 
ing, was named after our present king, during his sovereignty as 
regent of these kingdoms. It is a part of the ancient manor of 
Mary-le-bone, still more anciently called Tybourn, from its 
situation near a small bourn, or rivulet, formerly called Aye- 
brook, or Eye-brook. The Rev. Mr. Lysons, the indefatigable 
author of the historical account of the environs of London, 
imagines with great reason, that when the site of the church 
was altered to another spot* near the same brook, it was called 
St. Mary at the bourn, and became corrupted to its present ap¬ 
pellation of St. Mary-le-bone, or Mary-bone. 

This immense parish which is larger, more opulent, more 
populous, and possessed of more public and private buildings of 
good taste and real beauty, than many METROPOLISES of the 
continent, is situated in the hundred of Ossulston, which gives a 
baronial title to the heir apparent of the noble family of Tan- 
kerville. Its extent may be gathered, when it is known that it 
is bounded on the east by the parishes of St. Giles’s in the fields, 
and St. Pancras; on the west by that of Paddington, to the 
Kilburn Road ; on the north by Hampstead to the foot of Prim¬ 
rose Hill; and on the south by those of St. Anne Soho, St. 
James Westminster and St. George Hanover Square. It is 
eight miles and a quarter in circumference, and computed to 
contain above two thousand five hundred acres of land. 

The brook, or bourn, whence the parish derives its name, runs 
on the south side of Hampstead, and passes near Bellesize park 
to Barrow Hill farm. Thence through the Regent’s Park, to 
Marybone lane, it crosses Oxford Street near Stratford Place 
and Piccadilly under a bridge, near Hay Hill, which is supposed 
by some antiquaries to derive its name from this Ayef brook. 
It then passes through St. James’s Park, near Buckingham 
House, through Tothill fields, and falls into the Thames at a 
place called King’s Scholars’ Pond, a little below Chelsea. 

* This event occurred in the year 1400, in consequence of the church at the de¬ 
serted village of Tybourn having fallen into decay, and being robbed of its books, 
vestments, bells, images, and other decorations. 

+ This derivation to be complete, must borrow the cockney aspiration of the FI. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


9 


The manor of Tybourn is described in Doomsday book, as 
appertaining to the crown, and was held under it by various 
noble families, whose names and titles are all recorded in the third 
volume of Ly son's “ Environs o*f London.” The manor was 
granted by several successive kings to various persons, but the 
park was often reserved or reclaimed by the crown. The manor 
became afterwards the property of the Duke of Portland; whose 
grandfather married Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, (whose 
names are given to several streets), heiress of the two noble 
families of Newcastle and Oxford. 

The manor house, which during the time that it was vested 
in the crown, was occasionally used as a temporary royal resi¬ 
dence, particularly by queen Elizabeth, who appears by many 
accounts to have used her various palaces in rapid succession, 
was pulled down in the year 1791. From a drawing by Rooker, 
in the possession of Mr. White the architect, it appears to have 
retained, in spite of many alterations, some traces of the style of 
architecture used in that queen’s reign; at which period, the 
park of Mary-le-bone was abundantly stocked with game. In the 
history of the royal progresses of that queen it is recorded, that 
i{ on the 3rd February, 1600, the ambassadors from the Emperor 
of Russia, and other Muscovites rode through the city of Lon¬ 
don to Marybone park, and there hunted at their pleasure, and 
shortly after returned homeward.” 

When the manor of Mary-le-bone was granted to the before 
mentioned Edward Forsett, King James reserved the park in 
his own hands. It continued to be the property of the crown 
till the year 1646, when Charles I. by letters patent dated at 
Oxford May 6 , granted it to Sir George Strode, and John 
Wandesforde, Esq. as security for a debt of £2318. 11s. 9d. due 
to them, for supplying arms and ammunition during the civil 
wars. After the death of the king, when all the crown lands 
were disposed of by Cromwell, this park, without any regard to 
the claim of the before-mentioned grantees, was sold for 
£13,215 65 . 8 d, including £130 for 124 head of deer, and 
£1774. 8 s. for the timber, exclusive of 2976 trees marked for the 
navy, to John Spencer who is described “ of London, gentleman,” 
in behalf of Colonel Thomas Harrison’s regiment of dragoons, 
on whom Mary-le-bone park was settled for their pay. Sir John 
Ipsley being appointed by the protector to the office of Ranger. 


jO METROPOLITAN [IMPROVEMENTS. 

On the restoration of Charles II. Sir George Stioclc and Hu. 
Wandesforde were reinstated in their possession of the park, 
which they held till their debt was discharged, except the great 
lodge or palace as it was sometimes called, and sixty acies of 
land, which had been granted to Sir William Clarke, secretary 
to the Lord General (Monk) the Duke of Albemarle. A com¬ 
pensation was also made to John Carey, Esq. for the loss of his 
situation of ranger, which he had held before the protectorate. 

When Cromwell disposed of the park, for the support of a 
regiment of dragoons, it was disparked and never afterwards 
stocked. It was let on lease in the year 1668 to Henry Earl of 
Arlington; in 1696 to Charles Bertie and others in trust for the 
Duke of Leeds ; in 1724 to Samuel Grey, Esq. whose interest in 
the lease was purchased by Thomas Gibson, John Jacob and 
Robert Jacomb, Esqrs. who renewed their lease successively in 
the years 1730, 1735, and 1742. In 1754 a lease was granted 
to Lucy Jacomb,* widow and Peter Hinde, Esq. In 1765 
William Jacomb, Esq. had a fresh lease for an undivided share 
of fifteen twenty-fourths. The term of this share was pro¬ 
longed in 1772, and again in 1780 for eight years which com¬ 
menced on the 24th January, 1803, and expired at the begin¬ 
ning of the year 1811. In 1784 Mr. Jacomb sold his interest 
to the Duke of Portland. In the years 1765 and 1772 Jacob 
Hinde, Esq. had a new lease of the remaining nine twenty- 
fourths; which lease not being renewed, expired in 1803, eight 
vears before the Duke of Portland’s. 

So passed away the destinies of Mary-le-bone park, till it at¬ 
tained its present state of richly adorned beauty. These cu¬ 
rious and authentic details were originally communicated to the 
Rev. Mr. Lysons by William Harrison, Esq. of the land revenue 
office in Scotland yard, by permission of the late John Fordyce, 
Esq. the then surveyor general of his Majesty’s woods and 
forests; and continued to the present day from similar authentic 
sources of information. 

This estate, the late Mary-le-bone park, now the Regent’s park, 
contains 543 acres, 17 perches, according to an actual survey 
made in the year 1794 by the late Thomas Leverton, Esq. under 
the direction of John Fordyce, Esq. the late surveyor general 
of the crown lands, and by order of the Lords of the treasury. 













































































































































































































































































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


n 

About two thirds of this magnificent property lies in the 
parish of St. Mary-le-bone, and the rest in that of St. Pancras. 
It extends along the New Road, from Portland Street, on the 
east, to the end of Harley Street, Portland Place, on the west. 

Shortly after the before-mentioned survey, the Lords of the 
treasury empowered the surveyor-general to offer premiums 
for the best plans for building on this new estate ; and selected 
two (we believe) as the best, one by John Nash, Esq. which 
embraced all those beauties of landscape gardening, which his 
friend, the late Humphrey Repton, so successfully introduced, 
with the splendour of architectural decorations, in detached 
villas ; and the other by Messrs. Leverton and Chawner, which 
was more urban and builder like, than the enchanting rural 
plan which their lordships adopted. 

The park no sooner became once more the property of the 
crown, than the commissioners of his Majesty’s woods and 
forests commenced operations to carry Mr. Nash’s plan into 
effect. Following the sound advice of Cato the elder, in his 
book upon rural life, # that when we intend to build , we ought 
to deliberate ; when our intentions are to plant, we should not 
deliberate, but act ; they began by planting the whole demesne 
according to the plan; and it has therefore had the advantage 
of so many years growth w T hile the buildings are in progress. 

There is another advantage in this process, much in favour of 
the divine art of landscape gardening, which is, that from the 
moment of finishing either building or planting, the former 
begins to decay, and the latter to flourish. 

Thus has the public spirit of the king and his government 
secured to the inhabitants of London a magnificent park, w hose 
beauties and splendour cannot be surpassed by any metropolis 
in Europe. 

What the melodious poet Waller sung of St. James’s Park, 
as improved by Charles the Second, may truly be applied to 
this noble appropriation of the royal demesne, whose beauties 
are the subject of the following pages. 

* /Edificare diu cogitare oportet, conserere cogitare nun oportet, sed i'acere. 
Cato de re Rust . 


I) 


12 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


“ For future shades, young trees upon the banks 
Of the new stream appear in even ranks. 

The voice of Orpheus, or Amphion’s hand. 

In better order could not mnke them stand; 

May they increase as fast, and spread their boughs. 

As the high fame of their great owner grows ! 

May he live long enough to see them all 
Dark shadows cast, and as his palace tall!” 

The extension and improvement of the metropolis in this 
princely parish and district, within the memories of not very 
aged people, have been more rapid and surprising than those of 
any other country in Europe. They present to the astonished 
spectator, so magnificent are the buildings, and so tasteful is 
the scenery, more the appearance of the newly founded capital 
of a wealthy state, than one of the suburbs of an ancient city. 

The progress of the metamorphoses of this farm-like ap¬ 
pendage to our metropolis, into its present superb state, is a 
curious subject of investigation, as a series of historical facts 
in the history of our Metropolitan Architecture. We again 
refer to the circumstantial authority of Mr. White, as furnished 
by him to Mr. Lysons. 

At the beginning of the last century, Mary-le-bone was a 
small village, nearly a mile distant from any part of the metro¬ 
polis. In the year 1715 the plan for building Cavendish 
Square, and several new streets on the north side of Oxford 
Street, then called indiscriminately by that name and Tybourn 
Road, was first suggested. About two years afterwards the 
ground was laid out, and the circular plantation in the centre 
inclosed, planted and surrounded by a parapet wall and iron 
railing's. 

The whole of the north side was taken by the celebrated 
James Bridges, Duke of Chandos, who acquired a princely 
fortune as pay-master to the army in Queen Anne’s reign, and 
whose magnificent buildings, particularly his unrivalled man¬ 
sion at Canons, and stately style of living, which fell little short 
of that of a sovereign prince, were celebrated by Pope in his 
satires under the name of Timon. Of his magnificent concep¬ 
tions in building the satirist says, that 

“ Greatness with Timon dwells in such a draught 
As brings all Brobdignag before your thought; 

To compass this, his building is a town, 

His pond an ocean, his parterre a down. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


13 


The Duke (then Earl of Carnarvon) it is said, took this large 
portion of the ground, which reached an immense way back 
towards the north, for the purpose of building a town residence, 
correspondent with that of Canons. Of this he built no more 
than the wings, which were sufficiently spacious to become 
mansions. One, was that large mansion at the corner of Harley 
Street, formerly occupied by the late Princess Amelia, mother to 
King George the Third ; subsequently by H. P. Hope, Esq.; and 
recently, with its spacious court yards and stable offices, built 
upon by George Watson Taylor, Esq.; and the other the corres¬ 
ponding mansion at the corner of Chandos Street. The centre 
part is occupied by two splendid mansions of the Corinthian 
order, which stand on the sides of an opening leading to a 
place still known by the name of Chandos’ Folly. They were 
designed, I believe, by James of Greenwich, who was architect 
to the Duke at Canons. 

At this period, Harcourt House, the large mansion on the 
east side, and Bingley House, now Harcourt House, on the 
west side, a noble mansion designed by Inigo Jones were the 
only houses in Cavendish Square. The prison-like walls which 
close up the latter on every side like a fortress, were then ne¬ 
cessary from its solitary and dangerous situation. It is now 
the residence of the Duke of Portland, who has recently 
added a handsome range of stable offices at the back of the 
house, in Wimpole Street, in the style of the mansion, from the 
design, and under the superintendance of Samuel Ware, Esq. 
his grace’s architect. 

Portions of ground on the east and west sides were taken 
by Lord Harcourt and Lord Bingley ; and the rest was let to 
builders and other speculators. The failure of the celebrated 
South Sea adventure in 1720, caused a temporary cessation to 
these improvements, and it was several years before the square 
was entirely finished. In the year 1770, an equestrian statue, 
was erected in the centre of the enclosure to the memory of 
William Duke of Cumberland the hero of Culloden; who is 
represented in the full military costume of his day. It is of 
lead gilt, cast by Chew, a statuary of some eminence in his day ; 
and w r as placed there, as the inscription on the pedestal informs 
us, by Lieutenant General William Strode, in gratitude for pri¬ 
vate kindness, and in honour of public worth. 


]4 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

During the stoppage of the buildings in Cavendish Square, 
a new chapel and market-place were projected, not only as an 
inducement for the builders to proceed, but also for the inhabi¬ 
tants of the square and new street. The designs were made 
by James Gibbs, the architect of the beautiful church of St. 
Martin in the fields. They were both completed in 1724, but 
the market-place was not opened for business till 1732, in con¬ 
sequence of the opposition of Lord Craven, who feared that it 
would abridge the value of Carnaby Market. 

This chapel named after the Earl of Oxford, on whose 
estate it was built, was the first of the established church that 
was erected in the parish of Mary-le-bone, and is situated at 
the corner of Vere Street and Henrietta Street, both named 
after the noble family of Vere Earl of Oxford. The market 
is called Oxford Market from the same cause. 

The houses on the north side of Tybourn road, were completed 
in 1729, and it was then first called by its present name Oxford 
Street. About the same time, most of the streets, which lead 
from Oxford Street to Cavendish Square and Oxford Market, 
namely, Henrietta Street, Vere Street, Holies Street, Margaret 
Street, Cavendish Street, Wimpole Street, Princes Street, 
Bolsover Street, Castle Street, John Street, Market Street and 
a few others, were built; and the sites marked out for Lower 
Harley Street, Wigmore Street, Mortimer Street Sic. 

This magnificent parish has five splendid churches : one, the 
parish or mother church, and four district churches, which it 
is probable will hereafter become parochial, by a division of 
the parish; like that of St. George Hanover Square, from its 
parent St. Martin in the fields. The old parish church, which 
was built in 1/41, has been converted, by act of parliament, 
into a parochial chapel of ease, and a large chapel that was 
begun in July, 1813, was enlarged, altered from the Ionic to the 
Corinthian order, and by other requisite improvements converted 
into the parish church. It was finished in February, 1817, 
from the designs of Thomas Hardwick, Esq. and will be fully 
noticed in its proper place. 

Since that time, the other four churches have been erected 
under the authority of an act of parliament passed during 

the regency of our present king, at an expence of about 
£20,000 each. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


15 


The church of St. Mary in Wyndham Place, Bryans tone 
Square, was designed by Robert Smirke, Esq. and consecrated 
in January, 1824; that of All Souls, in Langham Place, by 
John Nash, Esq. was commenced in 1822, and finished in 1825; 
that of Christ Church, in Stafford Street, Lisson Green, by 
Philip Hardwick, Esq. was began in July, 1822, and opened 
for divine service in May, 1825; and Trinity Church, now 
building opposite the north end of Portland Street, by John 
Soane, Esq. the professor of architecture in the Royal Academy. 
Full descriptions of these new churches will be found in their 
proper places. 

The several episcopal chapels, or chapels of ease, were built 
about the following years. Oxford Chapel, in Vere Street, de¬ 
signed by Gibbs, in 1724; Bentinck Chapel, in 1772; Portman 
Chapel, in 1779 ; Margaret Street Chapel, first used as a place 
of worship for the Church of England, about 1779; Baker 
Street Chapel, and Brunswick Chapel, in Upper Berkeley 
Street, about three years afterwards. 

In the beginning of the reign of George the Third, there 
was nothing but a dreary, monotonous waste of dank pasturage, 
between the new region of Cavendish Square and the village 
of Mary-le-bone. The first improvement, westward of this 
site, was the erection of Portman Square; which was laid out 
and the north side begun about 1764, but it was nearly twenty 
years before the whole was completed. Even in 1772 the now 
densely populated site between Duke Street and Mary-le-bone 
Lane, was entirely unbuilt upon. Portman Square consists 
principally of large and splendid mansions, without any pre¬ 
tensions to external display in architectural embellishments. 
At the north-west angle is Montague House, formerly the re¬ 
sidence of that amiable philanthropist Mrs. Montague, who was 
celebrated for her literary talents, and for her custom of enter¬ 
taining and regaling all the little chimney sweepers of the me¬ 
tropolis in her house and gardens on the first of May in every 
year ; in gratitude, it is said, for having recovered a lost child 
from among that pitiable class of infant sufferers. 

In 1770, the continuation of Harley Street was begun, as 
well as Mansfield Street, on a site of ground that had formerly 
been a basin or reservoir of water. Soon afterwards Portland 
Place, formerly reckoned the most magnificent street, in the 


16 metropolitan improvements. 

metropolis, was built; and also most of the streets that inter¬ 
sect it. It was originally terminated by Foley House on the 
south, and by the fields of Mary-le-bone Park farm on the 
north. In the year 1772, according to a plan and description 
given in Northouck’s History of London, a new square was then 
building on the site of Portland Place, called Queen Square, 
bounded by Foley house and gardens on the south by houses ; 
abutting on Portland Street on the east; by Harley Street on 
the west; and by an island of mansions on the north; with two 
grand streets, one on the east, called Highgate Place; and the 
other on the west, Hampstead Place. Westward, towards the 
south, is Great Queen Anne Street, and opposite to it, on the 
east, Little Queen Anne Street. 

This design was abandoned, and Portland Place built, as be¬ 
fore described; but recently, Foley House has been taken down 
and this spacious avenue of mansions, being 125 feet in 
breadth, is continued, by an elongation called Langham Place, 
by a handsome sweep round Sir James Langham’s elegant 
mansion and grounds to Regent Street and St. James’s Park on 
the south : and by Park Crescent, New Road, and its planta¬ 
tion, with a bronze statue of heroic size of the late Duke of 
Kent, by Gahagan, and the splendid creations of picturesque 
art of the Regent’s Park, on the north. Portland Place is 
principally erected from the designs of Robert Adam, one of 
the architects of the Adelphi Buildings, and Park Crescent, 
Langham Place, and the continuation into Regent Street, from 
those of Mr. Nash. 

Stratford Place was built about the year 1774, on ground 
belonging to the Corporation of London, then called Conduit 
Mead, where the Lord Mayor’s banquetting house formerly 
stood. Old Stowe informs us that it was customary, in those 
days, for the Lord Mayor, accompanied by the Aldermen and 
other citizens on horseback, on the 18th of September of every 
year, to visit the fountain heads whence the conduits in the 
city were supplied, hunting a hare before dinner and a fox 
after dinner, in the fields beyond St. Giles’s. The dinner was 
served in the banquetting house. The site was granted on 
lease renewable for ever on certain covenants, from the corpora¬ 
tion to Edward Stratford, after whom the place was named, and 
others. It consists of two handsome wings, which form an 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


17 


entrance, two rows of large dwelling houses, and a mansion on 
the north, which faces the entrance. It was formerly decorated 
with a column supporting a statue of the king, commemorative 
of the naval victories of Great Britain. It was erected by the 
late General Strode, and taken down in 1805, in consequence of 
the foundation giving way. 

Cumberland Place, now a Crescent, but originally intended 
to have been a Circus, was began about 1775, in a “ plain 
brown-brick” style of architecture. Every war and every peace 
created fresh revolutions and improvements in the architecture 
of the metropolis. 

From 1786 to 1792 the additions and improvements increased 
with rapidity. All the Duke of Portland’s property in Mary- 
le-bone, except one farm, was let at that period on building 
leases; and the new buildings in the north-west part of the 
parish increased with equal rapidity. Manchester Square,* 
which had been began in 1776 by the building of Manchester 
House, one of the finest mansions in London, was finished in a 
neat manner in 1788. 

The large estates at Lisson Green have all been largely, and 
in many instances, tastefully built upon. Their principal beau¬ 
ties will also be dilated upon hereafter, as well as those in the 
Regent’s Park, Regent Street, &c. 

The causes of the extension of the metropolis in the style of 
the Mary-le-bone school of temple builders, whose motto was, 
that their buildings should only be strong enough to last till 
they were sold, has been so well depicted by Mr. Nash, to whom 
the public are beholden for the most picturesque improvements 
that ever were bestowed upon their metropolis, in each of his 
reports to the commissioners of His Majesty’s woods and forests, 
that we cannot do better than to extract a few of the more im¬ 
portant passages. This eminent architect says, that “ the arti¬ 
ficial causes of the extension of the town, are the speculations 
of builders, encouraged and promoted by merchants dealing in 
the materials of building, and attorneys with monied clients 
facilitating, and indeed, putting in motion, the whole system, 

* Mr Britton, in his last edition of “ the Original Picttire of London, 1 ' says, 
this square “ originally was intended to have been called Queen Anne’s Square.’’ 
A reference to page 16, will prove this assertion of that generally correct antiquary, 
to be incorrect in this instance. 


jy metropolitan improvements 

by disposing of their client’s money in premature mortgages, the 
sale of improved ground rents, and by numerous other devices, 
by which their clients make an advantageous use of their money, 
and the attorneys create to themselves a luciat.ive business from 
the agreements, leases, mortgages, bonds and othei instruments 
of law, which become necessary throughout such complicated 
and intricate transactions. It is not necessary for the present 
purpose to enumerate the bad consequences and pernicious 
effects which arise from such an unnatural and foiced enlarge- 
ment of the town, further than to observe, that it is the interest 
of those concerned in such buildings that they should be of as 
little cost as possible, preserving an attractive exterior, which 
Parker’s stucco, coloured bricks and balconies, accomplish; 
and a fashionble arrangement of rooms on the principal floors, 
embellished by the paper hanger, and a few flimsey marble 
chimney pieces, are the attractions of the interior. These are 
sufficient allurements to the public, and ensure the sale of the 
houses, which is the ultimate object of the builders; and to 
this finery every thing out of sight is sacrificed, or, is no further 
an object of attention, than, that no defects in the constructive 
and substantial parts shall make their appearance while the houses 
are on sale; and, it is to be feared that for want of these essen¬ 
tials which constitute the strength and permanency of houses, 
a very few years will exhibit cracked walls, swagged floors, 
bulged fronts, crooked roofs, leaky gutters, inadequate drains 
and other ills of an originally bad constitution ; and, it is quite 
certain, without a renovation equal to rebuilding, that all those 
houses, long, very long, before the expiration of the leases, will 
cease to exist, and the reversionary estate that the proprietors 
look for, will never be realized, as it is not till the end of the 
builder’s term that the proprietor of the fee will be entitled to 
the additional ground rents laid on by the builder. It is evi¬ 
dently, therefore, not the interest of the crown, that Mary-le- 
bone Park should be covered with houses of this description.” 

The commissioners wisely and tastefully adopted Mr. Nash’s 
plan, and their bosoms must glow with satisfaction at the results 
which are now so splendidly budding, and promising of future 
fruit, before their eyes. 

The noble appropriation of this royal domain, is in every re¬ 
spect worthy of the nation and of the metropolis. It is the 



r 






















































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


19 


largest of the parks, and the trees and shrubs are becoming 
umbrageous and park-like. 

In performing a tour of the Regent’s Park on a fine day, the 
enquirer into its beauties and merits should perform it leisurely 
and on foot. This will take some hours, or a long morning; 
but two distinct visits, one generally to become acquainted with 
its geography, and the other specifically to examine its details, 
will be preferable. An engraved plan, which accompanies the 
present work, will be found greatly to facilitate this object. 
Its best approach is to go up Portland Place, turn to the left, 
under the beautiful Ionic colonnade of Park Crescent, survey 
the tasteful plantation of Park Square, and proceed along the 
New Road as far as the new parish church. Then cross over, 
and enter the park by the entrance called York Gate. Turn 
round, and take what is perhaps the best view of the church 
from the road, to which the gate makes a picturesque accessary. 
As we are now performing the office of Cicerone in the general 
visit, we shall leave detail and criticism till the specific inspection. 

On entering the park, it may be as well to proceed for a few 
minutes to the elegant little bridge which faces you, and admire 
the fascinating beauties of the artificial lake which it crosses, 
adorned as it is with rare and beautiful water fowl, aquatic 
plants, and other appropriate embellishments. 

Return then to the main road, survey the architectural 
beauties of York Terrace, which extends to both sides of the 
entrance road. We shall not stop farther than to call your 
attention to the palatial splendour of these two grand rows of 
buildings, which, instead of resembling a series of dwelling 
houses, carry upon their faces the semblance of the residence 
of a sovereign prince. 

Proceed then by Cornwall Terrace, the richness and correct¬ 
ness of style of whose architecture is aptly embellished by the 
sylvan scene before it. Pass then by the entrance from Baker 
Street, in a northerly direction, by the elegant arcade of Cla¬ 
rence Place, and by the fanciful cupolas of Sussex Place. Con¬ 
tinue your pedestrian treat, forgetting the driver’s maxim of 
never looking to the right or left, and keeping your eye con¬ 
tinually between your horse’s ears ; which, as you have no horse 
to be troubled with, may rove delighted “ from earth to heaven, 
from heaven to earth,” in perpetual transport at this scene of 
ever varying delight. e 


20 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


Those who can remember with us, padding over the poached 
soil, about ten years since, when the roads were forming, the 
canal digging, the plantations trenching, and the infant trees, 
looking like bundles of useless sprigs, being dropped into their 
places where now they have taken root and are flourishing j 
may remember, at least we do, the aerial castles that we formed 
in our minds, which we were fearful would fail as such fragile 
architecture generally does. If they do so, they may perhaps 
agree with us, that the prophetic vision is more than realized. 

We next arrive at Hanover Terrace, still on the left hand, 
with all the sylvan beauties of the Park before it; and a few 
detached villas of tasteful beauty. Behind their plantations 
that beneficial stream, the Regent’s Canal, enters the northern 
circuit of the park, and conveys the produce of the inland part 
of our island, in a beautiful dell, to the bosom of old father 
Thames. 

In order then we pass by Albany Cottage, the residence of 
Mr. Raikes; Hanover Lodge, Sir Robert Arbuthnot’s; Grove 
House, Mr. Greenough’s; and being arrived at nearly the 
northern extremity of the park, we incline to the eastward. 
We next pass by (the as yet unbuilt) Munster Terrace, named 
after one of the Hibernian royal titles, and by the beautiful site 
marked out for Carrick Terrace. 

Now we arrive at the north-eastern boundary of thepaik; 
let us sit down for a few minutes in one of the recesses, and 
survey the delightful prospect before us. Surely the gardens 
which Dioclesian preferred to his throne, could scarcely have 
surpassed what these will be, when the present gigantic under¬ 
taking is accomplished. Cowley exclaimed, when excited by 
associations, such as might well be raised by the present en¬ 
chanting scene,— 


“ Me thinks I see great Dioclesian walk 
In the Salonian garden’s shade. 

Which by his own imperial hands were made: 
I see him smile, methinks, as he does talk 
With the ambassadors, who come in vain 
T’ entice him to a throne again. 

‘ If I my friend/ said he, ‘ should to you show 
All the delights which in these gardens grow, 

5 is likelier tar that you with me should stay, 
l han ’tis that you should carry me away; 

And trust me not, my friends, if every day 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


21 


I walk not here with more delight. 

Than ever after the most happy fight, 

In triumph to the eapitol I rode, 

To thank the gods, and to he thought myself a god ’ ” 


What a prospect lies before us ? splendour, health, dressed 
rurality and comforts such as nothing but a metropolis can 
afford are spread around us. “ Trim gardens,” lawns and 
shrubs; towering spires, ample domes, banks clothed with 
flowers, all the elegancies of the town, and all the beauties of 
the country are co-mingled with happy art and blissful union. 
They surely must all be the abodes of nobles and princes! 
No, the majority are the retreats of the happy free-born sons 
of commerce, of the wealthy commonalty of Britain, who thus 
enrich and bedeck the heart of their great empire. Well might 
the poet ask with honest pride and patriotic exultation, 

“ Where has commerce such a mart, 

So rich, so throng’d, so drain’d and so supplied. 

As London —opulent, enlarg'd and still 
Increasing London ? Babylon of old 
Nor more the glory of the earth than she, 

A more accomplish’d world’s chief glory now.” 

CoWPER. 


Before we proceed further, let us return a short distance and 
walk out of the north gate of the park, called Macclesfield 
Gate. This outlet is over a flat topped bridge, the road or via¬ 
duct of which is supported on arches sprung from the capital of 
iron columns of the Doric order. Under us winds the canal in a 
lovely dell. The grounds of the park descend to a precipitous 
bank which protects them from the incursions of the bargemen 
and other persons whose occupations lead them to frequent the 
canal and the towing path. The gate on the northern end of 
the bridge, which with others is closed at ten o’clock every 
night to all but those who are going to the houses within the 
park, is in three divisions, a carriage way and two posterns for 
foot passengers divided by stone piers, and a plain lodge on the 
western side for the attendant porter. See the Plate of Mac¬ 
clesfield Bridge. 

Now return we, and proceed onward, bearing a little to the 
eastward till we come to the eastern entrance of the park. See 
the Plate of the East Gate. This is north of the noble pile of 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


22 

buildings of the Corinthian order, flanked by two lofty arches 
decorated with columns of the same graceful order of archi¬ 
tecture, which is called Chester Terrace. 

This gateway or entrance, which we believe is to be called 
Chester Gate, leads to the great north road by Camden Town, 
Hampstead and Highgate. It has more pretensions to archi¬ 
tectural character than either of the other gates, being flanked 
by the well proportioned stone lodges, and its entrance divided 
by Doric columns. The entablature, which, with the whole of 
the composition is Palladian, runs through, and connects the 
lodges over which it finishes in two pediments. The columns 
are of cast iron, and fluted after the mariner of the Italian 
architects, and the whole order is selected from their best works. 
The columns have bases and plinths, with cubical sub-plinths 
of granite beneath them, as if they were too short for their 
places, and required the aids of such appendages to raise them 
to their architraves. This is a fault never found in the pure 
and sublime architecture of Greece, and rarely in that of ancient 
Rome, except where they stand as divisions or piers between 
steps, the column standing on the uppermost, as in Wren's 
beautiful colonnade at Greenwich hospital. 

Each lodge has a well proportioned semi-circular headed 
window towards the park, and the face of the building is 
broken and diversified by rustics. The composition is pretty 
and Italian like, it harmonizes well with the sceneiy, but the 
tasteful connoisseur must forget every recollection of a Propy- 
leium, when viewing this architectural entrance of the Regent's 
Park, for it must be allowed, that from the time of the Romans 
to the present day, all deviations from Grecian art, have in the 
same proportion been deviations from beauty. 

Over the two central columns is a projecting and raised 
blocking course, which, contrary to the rules of good architec¬ 
ture, does not rise so high as the side pavillions, and is more¬ 
over weakened in character by a row of projecting reeds in a 
panel, which give it the appearance of wood scored by a car¬ 
penter's reeding plane. Nor does it accord with the sides, 
which gives the centre an appearance of depression. Sir 
Christopher Wren* says that “ fronts ought to be elevated in 

* Elmes’s Life of Wren, Appendix, page 121. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. $3 

the middle, not the corners; because the middle is the place of 
the greatest dignity, and first arrests the eye ; and rather pro¬ 
jecting forward in the middle, than hollow. For these reasons, 
pavillions at the corners are naught; because they make both 
faults —a hollow and depressed front. The ancients elevated 
the middle with a tympan and statues, or a dome. The tri¬ 
umphal arches, which now seem flat, were elevated by the 
magnificent figure of the victor in his chariot with four horses 
a breast, and other statues accompanying it.” A trophy or 
other pyramidal composition placed on this centre acroterium 
would remove this objection. 

As a composition in the Italian or Palladian style of archi¬ 
tecture, as adapted to garden scenery, the East Gate of the 
Regent's Park is harmonious in design, and graceful in propor¬ 
tion. As the chimneys could not very well be hidden, they are 
very properly ornamented. The iron carriage way and the pos¬ 
tern gates accord in style with the rest of the composition. 
The view selected by the artist, Mr. T. H. Shepherd, gives a 
favourable display of this handsome gateway. 

We now proceed to the south, having the new hospital and 
chapel of St. Catherine on the left, and its old English looking 
house for the master (Sir Herbert Taylor), on our right. We 
pass by the row of mansions called Cumberland Terrace, and 
approach Chester Terrace, its lofty arches and spacious planta¬ 
tion ; till Cambridge Terrace, the last on the east, connects 
itself with the towering majesty of the Cupola, and well pro¬ 
portioned Doric portico of Mr. Hornor’s prodigious undertaking, 
the Coliseum, intended as a panorama of the metropolis and 
its environs, from an elevation loftier than the summit of the 
cross of St. Paul’s Cathedral. This terminates the circuit, 
and leads us into Park Square, on the east side by the Diorama, 
where the powerful pictorial illusions of Messrs. Bouton and 
Daguere, have so often delighted the amatuers and cognoscenti 
of the metropolis. 

We now return by Park Square, leaving its fine gardens and 
splendid circus, opening its defiles to the vista of Portland 
Place, on our left. At the north-west angle of Ulster Street 
begins Ulster Terrace, which passed, leads to Ulster Street, 
opening into the new road, opposite Harley Street. Then 
we continue by Brunswick Place, a less ostentatious row of 


24 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

buildings, and to the eastern division of the before mentioned 
magnificent terrace, which bears the name of the lamented 
Duke of York, whose illustrious memory is about to be justly 
commemorated by a national monument. 

The entrance between the two divisions of this splendid 
terrace is called York Gate, and is the subject of a Plate, which 
gives a view of the architecture on each side, terminated with 
a view of Mary-le-bone church in the distance. The gate itself 
consists of ornamental iron work of no prevailing style of archi¬ 
tecture. The houses themselves and the church will be de¬ 
scribed in our future pages, where they will furnish subjects for 
distinct plates. 

Having now made a circuit of the park, we shall conduct 
you to the interior, and point out the sites of the various villas 
that are built, and proposed to be built in this terrestrial 
paradise. 

It is proposed by the commissioners of his Majesty's woods 
and forests, under whose tasteful directions, not only Mary-le- 
bone Park, but also the splendid improvements of Regent 
Street, Carlton Palace, and those which are about to commence 
in the Strand, are being carried on; to erect no more than 
twenty-six villas within the park. The sites of these villas 
are all marked on the plan which accompanies this work. 
Several are already built, the plantations for the rest are 
completed and growing, and preparations are making, as 
you may perceive on the northern side, for the erection of 
others, and for the grounds and menageries of the Zoological 
Society. 

Those which are built, belong to the Marquess of Hertford ; 
to James Burton, Esq. an architect of eminence, (to whom the 
metropolis is indebted for many fine improvements about Rus¬ 
sell and Tavistock Squares, Regent Street, and other places) ; 
John Maberly, Esq. M. P. called St. John's Lodge; Grove 
House, to George Bellas Greenough, Esq.; Hanover Lodge to 
Colonel Sir Robert Arbuthnot, K. C. B.; Albany Cottage to 
Thomas Raikes, Esq.; and South Villa, the first in passing the 
bridge opposite York Gate, to William Henry Cooper, Esq. 
Mr. Burton’s villa called the Holme, designed by his son 
Decimus Burton, Esq. is the subject of one of our plates, and 
will be described when we come to it. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS 


25 


As our round has rather fatigued you, let us sit down on one 
of these seats that the commissioners have liberally scattered 
about the park, and before paying a visit to Mr. Burton's 
tasteful villa, we will chat a little about our opinions as to 
what a villa is and should be. 

With the Greeks we can have little to do. We know but 
little of their domestic architecture, save and except, about 
their palaces and hovels; and these indeed more from their 
writers than from their ruins. 

Of the Romans we know more, but I am not going to dis¬ 
tract you with long discussions about their architecture in 
general, but only to discuss with you a little concerning their 
villas, which with those of their bastard successors the Italians, 
has had much influence upon the domestic architecture of 
England. Nay, do not start, madam, at my epithet about your 
favourite Italians, I mean the word as of their architecture 
only, as the noble author of Childe Harold does of their lan¬ 
guage, when he calls it 

“ that soft bastard Latin, 

Which melts like kisses from a female mouth, 

And sounds as if it should be writ on satin. 

With syllables which breathe of the sweet south.” 

So of their architecture I adapt another quotation from the 
same illustrious bard, and you may see it illustrated around 
you. They, the Italian architects I mean, (and I reckon Messrs. 
Nash, Joseph Gwiltand Ware to be as much Italian architects,as 
I do Messrs. Soane and Smirke, to be Grecian), attempted too 
much variety in compositions which are to be seen at once, and 
in such cases, too much variety creates confusion. Hence their 
architecture like their language possesses all the vices of 
beauty, and is too rich, too redolent of charms, too redundant 
in variety, has too many parts (t joined ’ as the noble poet says. 

“ By no quite lawful marriage of the arts. 

Might shock a connoisseur; but when combin’d 
Form’d a whole which, irregular in parts, 

Yet left a grand impression on the mind.” 


A villa , as generally understood at the present day, is a 
rural mansion or retreat, for wealthy men. The palace with us, 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


26 

belongs to the sovereign and is sometimes applied to the epis¬ 
copal residence of a bishop. The mansion implies the residence 
of state of a nobleman or gentleman, and sometimes the house 
of the lord of a manor. 

The villa, on the contrary is the mere personal property and 
residence of the owner, where he retires to enjoy himself with¬ 
out state. It is superior to the ornamented cottage, standing 
as it were between the cottage cornee of the French, and the 
mansion or hall of the English. The term is never more pro¬ 
perly applied than when given to such suburban structures as 
those which are rising around us, serving as they may well 
do from situation as to the town, and from position as to rural 

Quite unlike those merchant’s and sugar-baker’s boxes which 
croud the sides of Clapham Road and Kennington Common, 

Suburban villas highway-side retreats. 

That dread th’ encroachment of our growing streets. 

Tight boxes, neatly sash’d, and in a blaze 
With all a July’s suns collected rays, 

Delight the citizen, who, gasping there. 

Breathes clouds of dust, and calls it country air. 

CO'W'I’BR. 

With the Romans the villa was quite a different affair. 
Pliny’s villas at Laurentinum, Tuscum, Tusculum, Tybur and 
Preneste, of which he has left such ample and entertaining 
descriptions in his epistles, were complete mansions, with resi¬ 
dences for retinues of servants, families of his friends, whole 
regiments of slaves, and other auxiliaries. 

Hadrian’s villa was a city of palaces, temples and theatres, 
with an hippodrome, a naumachia, a palestra, a nympheiim, a 
stadium, a pretorium, splendid galleries of pictures and statues, 
libraries, porticoes, residences for his ministers, officers, &c. 
barracks for his soldiers, and an immensity of apartments fitted 
up in a style of magnificence and splendour, worthy of a 
Roman emperor. 

The villas of Cicero, of Lucullus, and of many other eminent 
Romans, v/hich are so numerous and so thickly set at Tusculum, 
and to which they retired from the fatigues of their professions, 
are more in accordance with our ideas of such a structure. 
So was that which the infamous Agrippina, according to 













































































































































I 





METROPOLITAN IMPROYEMENIS. 


27 

Tacitus, so often made the scene of her dissolute pleasures in 
the same vicinity. 

The villas of the modern Romans are nothing better than 
large city palaces removed into the country. They consist of 
rooms of state, not of domestic convenience, such as we asso¬ 
ciate with the word villa. They seem more for show than use, 
and if properly named, would be called palaces , instead of 
villas. Such is the villa Ludovisi, such is the villa Aldobran- 
dini, and such is the villa Albani, whose magnificent galleries 
and spacious porticoes are filled with the most precious collec¬ 
tion of ancient sculpture that any private cabinet ever con¬ 
tained ] and which is as appropriately called a villa as if we 
were to name the spacious mansions of Chatsworth or Blenheim 
by the nam of the villa Devonshire, or villa Marlborough. 
The villa Mondragone has more windows than there are days in 
the year, and the villa Borghese bears as much resemblance to 
a villa as any of those just cited. 

Palladio’s villas more approach the utility and comfort of such 
a structure. They are admirably adapted to the country and 
climate for which he designed them, and are models of beauty 
and arrangement. 

Inigo Jones introduced the Palladian villa into England 
with more taste than propriety. Lord Burlington continued 
its practice, and accomplished its greatest beauties in his beau¬ 
tiful gem at Chiswick; but it is too cold, too dreary, and above 
all, too comfortless, for our climate and our habits of society. 

Campbell, Ware and Brettingham built mansions both large 
and small, but scarcely any thing to be remembered as a villa. 
Wren built town houses, and Vanburgh palaces, but neither of 
them accomplished a villa. The houses of the former, many of 
which are to be seen in London, and are commemorated in his 
memoirs, cannot be considered, according to his own canons, as 
architectural; for he conformed to the French taste and Parisian 
fashion of the day, and satirised them by avowing that “ archi¬ 
tecture aims at eternity, and is therefore the only thing inca¬ 
pable of modes and fashions.” 

The various villas in the park, the consideration of which 
have occasioned this digression, shall now be visited, if you 
are sufficiently rested to proceed. The first that we arrive at, 
is that of Mr. Burton, which he has named the Holme, a Saxon 


2g METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

word, meaning a river island. Good views of it are obtained over 
the lake and island whence it derives its name, from Hanover 
Terrace, along Sussex Place, and from Clarence ierrace. From 
the gardens opposite these buildings our view is taken. Its 
charming plantations and lovely evergreens, on a fine autumnal 
day, when we viewed it from the opposite grounds last year, 
and surveyed the glassy surface of the silver lake, 


u Sloped downwards to its brinks and stood. 

With their green faces fixed upon the flood.” 

Lord Byron. 

This villa, appears from the grounds, to consist of but two 
stories, the principal and the chamber story; but in reality it 
consists of three, the offices being contained in a basement, 
which is concealed by a lawned terrace, and protected from 
damps by concealed area walls. This story is lighted and ap¬ 
proached from the outside by areas on its flanks, which are 
hidden by the plantations. 

The entrance is on the opposite front to that shown in the 
view, under an Ionic tetrastyle portico. It consists of a door and 
two windows, one of which lights the study and the other the 
eating room. This portico corresponds in width with the bow, 
or rotunda in the garden front, and is covered with a well-pro¬ 
portioned pediment; and the windows agree with those seen in 
the view : except those under the portico which are smaller, and 
light the stair-case on one side, and a closet or small dressing 
room on the other. The door is in the centre, and opens to a 
hall 16-0 by 10*0, with only one door besides that by which 
you enter. This door leads to a corridor that communicates 
with all the apartments of the principal story and the stairs to 
the chamber story, which are on the left side (on entering) of 
the hall. The apartments consist of a handsome drawing room 
which occupies the bow, a library on the side next the conser¬ 
vatory and a billiard room on the other side. These three rooms 
occupy the garden front, and can be easily thrown together into 
one or two apartments, by means of large folding doors. At 
the back of the library is a spacious dining room, entered 
under a circular recess; and behind the billiard room, which is 
as large as the eating room, is a study or gentleman’s room, in 
a retired situation suited to its purposes. The chambers and 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


29 


dormitories are above stairs. The bow is decorated by attached 
columns of the same order as those in the entrance front, and the 
entablature is continued on every face of the building except 
the wings, where the architrave is omitted to make room for 
the dressings of the windows. The bow is surmounted by an 
attic, and covered with a well proportioned cupola. Each end of 
the flanks is finished with a pediment formed by the roof 
itself, not as in some modern instances, by an applique of a 
different shape. The length of the building on the ground 
story is sixty-six feet, and the depth on its flanks forty-four feet. 

The style of the building is villa-like and characteristic, and 
the appearance from the grounds rural and pleasing. It is 
the work of a young architect, and is creditable to his rising 
abilities. 

There is time yet to inpsect another of these suburban villas, 
if you are not too tired therefore in our way to our friend’s 
house in St. John’s Wood, where we are to dine, we will pass 
again along the terraces that adorn the outer circle. Look ! 
what a fine effect the portico of the new church has, now the 
setting sun illuminates its northern aspect. It is singular, that 
most of our best porticoes and facades have this dull and sun¬ 
less aspect. From the India House to Somerset House, and 
thence to Carlton Palace, (which by the way is now being re¬ 
moved), and again, this before us, all face the dreary north. 

Look ! I say, at the effect, (the detail and proportions we will 
defer till to-morrow), see how the long gray shadows contrast 
with the mellow sunny hue of the lights ; and how playfully they 
break, and cross each other. What a beautiful carved frame, 
in appearance, the houses on both sides of York Gate form to 
the church, (see the print), and how well the Ionic order of 
the houses carries on the eye to the richer Corinthian of the 
church. 

Well, let us proceed dinnerward, and cast another look as 
we proceed at the terraces on the left, and at the beautiful 
plantations and lovely lake on our right. See ! the sparkling 
undulating line of beauty, formed by the curved neck of that 
«wan, sailing majestically by the dark green shrubs of the 
Holme. The united powers of the magic pencils of Ruysdael 
and Claude would hardly do justice to that bit of brilliant 
nature. See again at that charming groupe of (angels, I was 


30 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS 

going to say,) children, who' are sporting between the shrubs. 
By heaven, I could stay here all day feasting my eyes, till my 
more corporeal nature would command me to attend to other 

senses. 

Before we cross the bridge at Macclesfield Gate, I will call 
your attention to the picturesque groupe before us, formed by 
Albany Cottage in the fore-ground, Hanover Lodge a little be¬ 
hind it, and Grove House, that which has the Ionic portico and 
niches, in the distance. 

Grove House, the residence of George Dellas Greenough, Esq, 
is another of Mr. Decimus Burton’s elegant designs, and is com¬ 
pletely in the villa style of architecture. It is larger and nas 
more pretensions to architectural character, than that of his 
father. The garden front, which forms the principal feature in 
the print, is divided into three portions, a centre and two wings. 
The wings are backed with the flanks of the side elevations, 
which Mve a value to their outlines. 

O 

The centre of the garden front, is composed of a tetrastyle 
portico of the Ionic order, raised on a terrace. Three windows 
fill the apertures between the columns, and a long panel over 
them, gives an apparent height to the apartment thus decorated. 
The wings have recesses, the soffites of which are supported by 
three quarter columns of the Doric order. Between these 
columns are w r ell proportioned niches, each of which contains a 
statue. No other window or door appears on the front, which 
gives a remarkable and pleasing casino or pleasure-house cha¬ 
racter to the house. 

The portico, which is composed of one of the purest of the 
Grecian orders, is surmounted by a well proportioned pediment 
and acroteria ; and the cornice of the wings, by a blocking 
course, the beauty of which is injured, by its integrity being 
broken and its character weakened, through raising the angles and 
depressing the centre, contrary to all the sound rules of the art, 
and of the elements of beauty. The curvilinear dipping lines 
of these finials to the wings are discordant to the eye, and 
should have been avoided. Sir Christopher Wren* says, that 
“an artist ought to be jealous of novelties, in which fancy 
binds the judgment; and to think his judges, as well those 


* Elmbs’s Life of YVkev, Appendix, p. 


31 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

that are to live five centuries after him, as those of his own 
time. That which is commendable now for novelty will not be 
a new invention to posterity, when his works are often imitated, 
and when it is not known which is the original; but the glory 
of that which is good is eternal.” 

The entrance front, also consists of three parts, or divisions, 
a centre and two wings. The centre, however, is kept subor¬ 
dinate to the garden or principal front, by having no pediment, 
but is finished with a simple straight blocking course over the 
level Ionic cornice, which is continued through both fronts and 
flanks, as the theme or subject of the composition. This variety 
of uniformity gives perfect beauty and an Ionic character to the 
house ; although the lower portico and decorations of the niches 
have a Doric accompaniment. These uniformities carried 
alternately in the fronts, affect the eye, as the key notes in 
music, or the alternate rhymes in poetry, do the ear. The 
blocking course is finished by a panelled acroterium, surmounted 
by a sub-cornice and lesser blocking course ; shorter by about 
a fourth than its plinth, and carried into a pyramidal form by 
well proportioned trusses, which have the merit of appearing 
really as supporters to their centre. 

Under the architrave of the leading entablature are the 
windows of the chamber story. Three in the centre and one 
in the flanks. The entrance door is protected by a spacious 
semi-circular portico of the true Doric order, which harmonizes 
with the livelier Ionic, as Linley’s inimitable violoncello does 
with Spagnoletti’s brilliant fiddle :—or to take a higher character, 
like one of Mozart’s majestic accompaniments, to his brilliant 
and inventive arias. 

The blocking course of this order is carried horizontally in a 
straight line, and vertically in a beautiful curve, censuring by 
its harmony the discord of its weak and inefficient neighbour. 

I cannot help again quoting W ren while we are here, although 
our friend may be getting warm, and his dinner cold, by our 
delay. It is from the same unfinished sketch that I before 
quoted from, and is germain to our subject. 

“ Beauty, firmness and convenience,” says our great master, 

II are the principles of architecture ; the first two depend upon 
geometrical reasons of optics and statics; the third only makes 
the.variety. There arc natural causes of beauty. Beauty,” ob- 


32 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

serves he, making a fine definition, “ is a harmony of objects, 
begetting pleasure by the eye.” Ihen he proceeds to say that 
there are two causes of beauty, “ natural and customary. 
Natural is from geometry, consisting in uniformity, that is, 
equality and proportion. Customary beauty is begotten by the 
use of our own senses to those objects which are usually 
pleasing to us for other causes j as familiarity, 01 particular 
inclination, breeds a love to things not in themselves lovely. 
Here lies the great occasion of errors ; here is tried the archi¬ 
tect’s judgment; but always the true testis natural or geome¬ 
trical beauty.” 

Put your tasteless watch into your hungry fob, I will not 
detain you from your dinner many minutes, and the subject is 
so apt, that I must finish it. We will take gallant’s law, and 
lay the blame on the enticing beauties that have surrounded 
and accompanied us. “ Geometrical figures,” continues my 
master, “ are naturally more beautiful than other irregular 
figures; in this, all consent as to a law of nature. Of geome¬ 
trical figures, the square and the circle, are most beautiful. 
Next, the parallelogram and the oval. Straight lines are more 
beautiful than curved: next to straight lines, equal and 
geometrical flexures. An object elevated in the middle” (mind 
that friend Decimus, and violate no more the purity of thy 
blocking courses) “ is more beautiful than depressed .” 

The general composition of Grove House accords (excepting 
only the inharmonious discord of the aforesaid blocking course, 
which affects the eye like a badly resolved chord in music does 
. the ear), with the definition of beauty, that I have just quoted. 
The principal, or garden front, is harmonious, both in its 
principal features and in its accessories ; the entrance front 
is equally harmonious in itself, and secondary to the leading 
ideas, forming an admirable tenor to the soprano facade of 
the garden, and the whole forms a pretty architectural sinfonia 
of a few parts; the composer wisely leaving the more magnifi¬ 
cent and grander features of the art for fuller compositions :—to 
such as where 


“The pillar’d dome magnific heaves 
Its ample roof; and luxury within, 

Pours out her glittering stores.” 


Thomson. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


33 


The interior of this modest mansion is commodiously ar¬ 
ranged, both for convenience and utility. The study of this 
department of our art, convenience, particularly in domestic ar¬ 
chitecture, is one of the most useful, and at the same time, one 
of the most difficult parts of an architect’s profession. Sir 
Henry Wotton, in discussing this subject, says, that “ every man’s 
proper mansion-house and home, being the theatre of his hospi¬ 
tality, the seat of self-fruition, the comfortable part of his own 
life, the noblest of his son’s inheritance, a kind of private 
princedom ; na}q to the possessors thereof, an epitome of the 
whole world, may well deserve, by these attributes, according 
to the degree of the masters, to be decently and delightfully 
adorned. For which end there are two arts attending on ar¬ 
chitecture, like two of her principal gentlewomen, to dress and 
trim their mistress—picture and sculpture.” I know not what 
our old friend Fuseli would have said to this doctrine of making 
painting a dressing maid to architecture. Flaxman would have 
shaken his venerable head at any one who would have promul¬ 
gated such an heresy concerning his art. Courage! I see land, 
our friend’s house is in view, the chimneys are delightfully tele¬ 
graphing us with their smoak, and I have just time to finish 
the diplomatic-architecto-critic’s opinion of the three arts; 
u between whom,” continues he, a before I proceed any farther, 
I will venture to determine an ancient quarrel about their pre¬ 
cedency, with this distinction ; that in the garnishing oj fabrics, 
sculpture no doubt must have the pre-eminence, as being 
indeed of nearer affinity to architecture itself, and consequently, 
the more natural and suitable ornament. But, on the other 
side, to consider these two arts, as I shall do, philosophically, 
and not mechanically, an excellent piece of painting is to 
my judgment the more admirable object, because it comes 
near an artificial miracle to make divers distinct eminences 
appear upon a flat by force of shadows, and yet the shadows 
themselves not to appear, which I conceive the uttermost 
value, and virtue of a painter, and to which very few have 
arrived.” 

As we have yet a few minutes, I must say something of the 
horticultural decorations, which “ garnish” this villa. 


34 


METROPOLITAN UVIPROVEMENTS. 


They are at present young and incomplete, but looking with 
a pictorial eye, at their present capabilities and prospects of 
future growth, they are beautifully diversified, and give a 
characteristic back-ground and accompaniment to the principal 
feature—the house. 



























































































































































CHAP. II. 


“ Fountains and Trees, our wearied pride do please. 

E’en in the midst of gilded palaces; 

And in our towns, that prospect gives delight, 

Which opens round the country to our sight. 

Sprat 


POUR. OF THE regent’s PARK, BEGINNING AT YORK GATE-YORK GATE AND THE 

NEW CHURCH OF ST. MARY-LE-BONE, THE WORK OF TWO ARCHITECTS, CONSI¬ 
DERED AS ONE COMPOSITION-CONVERSION BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT OF AN 

IONIC CHAPEL INTO A CORINTHIAN CHURCH-OBSTINACY OF THE BASES, 

CONTRASTED WITH THE SUBSERVIENCY OF THE CAPITALS-YORK TERRACE- 

CORNWALL TERRACE-ARCHITECTURE COMPARED WITH MUSIC—CLARENCE 

TERRACE—OBSERVATIONS-SUSSEX PLACE—HANOVER TERRACE-DESCRIP¬ 
TIONS OF AND REMARKS ON ALBANY COTTAGE-HANOVER LODGE-GROVE 

HOUSE, THE VILLA OF MR. GREENOUGII-THE MARQUESS OF HERTFORD’S VILLA 

-MACCLESFIELD BRIDGE-THE GROUNDS OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY-THE 

COLLEGIATE CHURCH AND HOSPITAL OF ST. CATHERINE-THE MASTER’S RESI¬ 
DENCE-CHESTER TERRACE—‘■CAMBRIDGE TERRACE—MR. IIORNOr’s COLISEUM 

-THE DIORAMA-MR. SOANE’S NEW CHURCH. 

Good morning to you gentlemen, we are betimes and punc¬ 
tual, and it is well we are so, for we have much to do. The 
morning, however, is auspicious, and we go to our task with 
affection. Let us, as the French say, begin with the beginning, 
and by walking gently along the New Road, enter upon our 
undertaking at 

York Gate. 

To see this place (for York Gate is not only the entrance 
gateway to the park, but also comprises the two rows of man¬ 
sions that flank it, forming an architectural avenue to the 
park on entering it, and a brilliant border to the church on 
leaving it) we should go upon the bridge. 

The entrance is formed by the porches of the eastern and 
western ends of York Terrace, which is thus divided into 
two halves. These porches give the effect of lodges to the 
gates which cross the'avenue, and break the perpendicularity 
of the line of houses. Of the terrace itself, I will say a word 

G 



3 6 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


or two as we pass round the park, after examining the two rows 
of mansions that flank this handsome entrance to it. 

One side is similar to the other, and consists of a centre and 
two wings. The wings project from the main body of the 
building, and are plain in their elevation, except where their 
perpendicular lines are broken by the string course, which forms 
the plinth to the stylobate of the Ionic order of the centre, and 
by the cornices of the principal and attic orders. 

The centres recede, and are decorated by semi-circular headed 
windows in the ground story; by a colonnade of the Ionic 
order, to the principal and two pair stories, and by an attic sur¬ 
mounting the cornice of the principal order. The inter-columni- 
ations, are appropriated to the windows ; those of the principal 
story having balconies formed by a balustrade, between the 
pedestals of the order. Both the buildings are insulated, their 
northern extremities being bounded by the mews and entrances 
to the houses of York Terrace, and their southern ends by the 
buildings and gardens of Nottingham Terrace, which reach to 
the New Road. 

Before we proceed to a brief examination of the church, let 
me call your attention to the rich and varied effect of the three 
architectural fagades of which this stereotomous scene, like that 
of Palladio’s sculptured scenery at the Olympic theatre of 
Vicenza, is composed. The western front is in positive shadow, 
relieved only by the atmospheric reflection, that faintly deli¬ 
neates the details, and gives a massive effect approaching to 
that of moon-light; while its opposite brother sparkles with all 
the radiance of the morning sun, having shadows and lights, 
reflexes and demitints in varied harmony. The church con¬ 
nects this light and shade, this treble and base, as it were, of 
the composition, by a middle tint of half shadow, a sort of 
tenor to the others, and is illuminated into complete detail by 
the reflected lights from the eastern front of the buildings, from 
the surface of the road in its front, and from the atmosphere. 
These lights produce almost the effect of perfect day-light 
without sun-shine, upon the portico and aisles of the church; and 
give softened instead of cast shadows, like those in sun-shine, 
and the west front is comparatively dark, from the excessive 
light of the eastern building. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


3? 


They form a complete architectural pictorial symphony of three 
parts, m perfect harmony as a composition, although the work 
of two masters. True it is, there are some defects in the detail, 
the attic cornice is too trifling and petite, and the upper blocking 
course too insignificant, and not exactly in good keeping with 
the rest, or in good taste:—but, when the adapter of the ac¬ 
companiments (Mr. Nash), has succeeded so well in completing 
the whole subject, of which the church, the theme as it may 
be called of the composition, is the work of another artist (the 
late Mr. Hardwick), and rendered it so picturesque and harmo¬ 
nious as a whole; we must not seek too rigidly for the accidental 
carelessness of an appogiatura note or two, that may offend 
against the strict rules of the art, the entire composition being 
so pleasing and satisfactory. 

One more look, as that passing cloud is beautifully varying 
the bright lines of the columns with a dioramic effect, and then 
we will cross the road, and take a closer view of the new 
church. 


The New Church of St. Mary-le-bone. 

The first church of this parish was dedicated, say the anti¬ 
quaries, to St, John, and the second one, of which I have 
before spoken, to the Virgin Mary. Of this idol of the Catholic 
church, in those days England possessed many, even as there 
are still a plurality of Madonnas in those countries where the 
Roman Catholic faith prevails. This saint in particular, was 
called St . Mary of, or at, the bourn , and now by corruption 
and acceptation, St. Mary-le-bone, which, with your leave I shall 
call it, with the vulgar million, leaving its etymology and cor¬ 
rect orthography to the wise few, who patronize word-catching 
and antiquarianism. 

The original church stood on or near the present court-house 
of the parish, at the end of Mary-le-bone Lane, near Oxford 
Street. The second church was built on the site of a chapel 
near the upper end of High Street; which becoming dilapidated, 
was taken down in the year 1741, and a new one, now called 
the parish chapel erected in its place. It is, as Cobbett says, in 
The Rejected Addresses, “ a plain brown brick edifice.” 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


This church becoming inadequate to the population and re¬ 
spectability of the parish, in spite of the many chapels of ease 
which had been built within its circuit, the parishioners for 
many years past had been endeavouring to procure the erection 
of a new parish church, commensurate with their wants. In 
1770 they procured an act of parliament for building one, for 
making a new cemetery, and other purposes connected there¬ 
with ; and a design for its construction by Sir William Cham¬ 
bers was approved by the proper authorities. In 1772 or 1773 
the vestrymen procured a new and enlarged act, empowering 
them to provide an additional public cemetery, and to erect a 
new parish chapel of ease. The plot of ground before us, was 
therefore purchased and enclosed, but no farther steps were 
taken till after the passing of a fourth act in 1811, which re¬ 
pealed all the former acts, and gave new powers to the vestry¬ 
men and their successors. 

These gentlemen, therefore, determined in the beginning of 
the year 1813 to build a new chapel of ease on this spot, and 
adopted a design for such purpose, made by Thomas Hardwick, 
Esq. The works were accordingly commenced in the July of 
that year, and the edifice was proceeding rapidly to completion, 
when the building was suddenly stopped; and various altera¬ 
tions effected. It was then much smaller and of a different 
order, the Ionic. Some of the capitals, I well remember, were 
carved, and I believe one or two were erected upon their proper 
shafts. When this smaller building was at this stage of its 
operations, the select vestry came to the resolution of converting 
their incipient chapel of ease , into a complete parish church : and 
as parliament is proverbially said to be omnipotent, they pro¬ 
cured another act to empower them to make that metamorphosis, 
and to convert, by its magic influence, good Ionic columns into 
substantial Corinthians. This occasioned a perfect chaos among 
the materials and elements of the building; which, when order 
was restored, all the shafts of the Ionic columns became 
elongated to Corinthian proportions, and were surmounted by 
capitals of that splendid order. But the humble attic bases of 
the original design, not having the fear of being called to the 
bar of the house before their eyes, would not give way to the 
parliamentary enactment, and remain to this day vouching for 
their Ionian origin. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


39 

The more modest maidenly tower, was also compelled to 
resign her claims, in order to make way for the riper and more 
matured beauties of a sedate matronly campanile steeple. The 
aisle-like additions of the stair-ways to the galleries, received 
the embroidered decorations of a pair of orthodox columns, the 
tetrastyle Ionic porch of the chapel was extended to the hexas- 
tyle Corinthian portico of the church, and various other altera¬ 
tions were made, to give the daughter chapel , now married by 
authority of parliament, the character of a mother church. 

When completed and consecrated, the new edifice was named, 
with all due solemnity, the parish church of St. Mary-le-hone; 
and was invested with all the rights and privileges of its de¬ 
crepit and divorced predecessor, which was obliged to retire 
into the humble rank of parish chapel, and to act as a handmaid 
to its more favoured, and more youthful successor. 

The Duke of Portland, as rector of the parish, nominates the 
curate, who is to be licensed by the Bishop of London. This 
ecclesiastical officer is now paid a stipend suitable to the rank 
and wealth of his flock. But, as a contrast to the present day, 
Mr. Lysons informs us in his valuable researches into the history 
of the environs of London, that in 1511 the curate’s stipend 
was only thirteen shillings a year, which was paid by Thomas 
Hobson, then lessee under the priory of Blakemore. In 1650 
the impropriation was valued at £80 a year, and the curate was 
paid £15 a year, his other emoluments averaging generally 
. about the same sum. From the prodigious increase of first-rate 
buildings, and of population in the parish, particularly in the 
Regent’s Park, the contingencies of the minister’s stipend are 
now such as to make it divisible into several valuable benefices. 

The plan of this church, like most of those in the metropolis, 
is a parallelogram, with its longest sides distributed to the north 
and south, instead of to the east and west, as is usual with 
Christian churches. This method of construction, which throws 
the principal or entrance front to the north, and the altar to the 
south, is an arrangement that doubtlessly was thought of but 
little importance when its original destination was for a Chapel; 
but is objectionable in many points of view, as I will presently 
shew you, in a Church. 

The north front is elongated by lateral projections to the east 
and west, which are both faced by detached columns. These 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


40 

wings contain the staircases which lead to the galleries. The 
south ends of the east and west fronts are also elongated by 
similar projections, which, lying diagonally in relation to the 
main building, form internally a semi-hexagonal recess for the 
altar ; and externally, that to the eastward a direct portico or 
facade of entrance from High Street, and that to the westward 
a corresponding form, which, however, faces only the church¬ 
yard. The eastern diagonal wing, contains a vestibule and 
staircase to the gallery, and to the private family pews above, 
which have the heterodox and profane appearance of the private 
boxes of a dramatic theatre. The western corresponding ap¬ 
pendage, contains a similar staircase upon a smaller scale, and a 
vestry room below, and family pews corresponding with those 
opposite to them, above. 

Before entering the church, the doors of which fortunately 
for us are open, we will take a view of the principal elevation 
now before us. The portico, which is raised upon six steps, is 
Corinthian, of the proportions and after the chaste example of 
the Pantheon at Rome, and is hexastyle in front. It is crowned 
by a proper entablature, and a well proportioned pediment. 
Behind the principal range of columns, which have a return 
column and an anta on each flank of the portico, are three 
doorways, with well proportioned architraves and dressings. 
The centre entrance leads to the nave, and the sides to the 
aisles and galleries. The elevation is divided into two stories 
by a string course, on which, in front, are two semi-circular 
headed windows over the side doors, and between the four 
central columns, is a long blank sunk panel, which was in the 
architect’s original design, filled with a basso-rilievo representing 
the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. Few subjects of 
s-acred history, could be either more appropriate to a Christian 
edifice than this narrative, the selection of which is highly 
creditable to the taste and judgment of this able pupil of Sir 
William Chambers, or compose better for a sculptural embel¬ 
lishment to a Christian temple. The select vestry could not do 
better than to order Mr. Westmacott, whom the Royal Academy 
have with great judgment elected professor of sculpture, to fill 
up the void by a sculptural representation of this very appro¬ 
priate and analogous subject from his able hand; and thus 
complete the principal elevation of their handsome church. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


41 


The ceiling of the portico is divided into panels by the archi¬ 
traves from the columns to the wall or cell of the building, 
which are crossed by the epistylium of the columns in flank. 
These panels are filled with flowers of a broad, bold and appro¬ 
priate character, peculiarly suitable for their situation. 

“ Honour to whom honour is due,” says a high authority, 
therefore I should have been sorry had we left the portico with¬ 
out noticing the inscription over the centre doorway ; which, like 
that of the portico of Agrippa from which this is copied, records 
the honoured names of its pious founders. 


“This Church was erected at the expense of the 

PARISHIONERS, AND CONSECRATED VI. FEBRUARY, 

A.D. MDCCCXVIII. 

The Duke of Portland,! 

Sir James Graham, Bart. 5 
George Allen,' 

John Russell 


SN/) 

G i 


CHURCHWARDENS. 


SIDESMEN. 


I had almost forgotten my promise of animadverting upon 
the practice of reversing, or neglecting, the ancient custom of 
building churches east and west, which makes the entrance or 
portico face the west, and the altar or posticum face the east or 
rising sun. To say nothing of religious principle in this mode 
of construction, which however, like most principles founded 
on such grounds, will always be found consistent with good 
sense, the custom of placing churches east and west is of 
very ancient practice, and independently of the Christian feel¬ 
ing of the early ages, is founded on good taste, and is the mos-t 
beautiful in practice; not only for the sentiments that it 
inspires from its antiquity, and from the feeling of adoring the 
Creator of all things, looking towards the east, where his boun¬ 
teous source of light and heat rises to beautify and benefit our 
mundane globe ; but from the circumstance, that such a mode 
of distribution gives more beauty and variety of light and 
shade, than any other. In a northern aspect, such as this of 
Mary-le-bone new church, the portico, which is always the 
most distinguishing feature of a church, is turned towards 
that part of the heavens, from whence the sun never shines ; 
and it rarely catches its enlivening rays, but receives on 


42 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

the contrary the gloomy sepulchral reflected light of a northern 
aspect, and bears more the character of a pagan sepulchre, than 
of the enlivening features of a Christian temple. 

The steeple partakes of the same gloomy character in front, 
but being circular in its upper part, and having every face 
alike, the same objection does not entirely hold good. There¬ 
fore to catch the best character of this feature of the church, 
which by the way is the most difficult thing to design in modern 
architecture, and may be called both the touch-stone and op- 
probium of modern art, let us walk a little way down the New 
Road towards Portland Place, and observe the charming effect 
of the light and shade upon its varied forms. 

To compare this steeple with the best of Gibbs’ or any of 
Wren’s, that are executed in stone, would be trying its architect 
by too severe a standard, for who of modern days has sur¬ 
passed that of St. Martin’s in the Fields, or has equalled those of 
St. Bride’s, Bow, or many others that may occur to an observing 
spectator ? But it has its beauties, which are principally those 
of detail, and its defects, which are entirely those of outline and 
of appropriateness. In outline it is bulky and inelegant, and 
in appropriateness, either the pediment should have been 
omitted, or the campanile should not have been placed a strad¬ 
dle upon its back. It has no precedent in any work of Wren’s, 
who always brings up his spire from a sufficient tower, and base 
from the ground ; nor do I remember at this moment any in 
the great Italian masters. Gibbs furnishes an example in St. 
Martin’s, and so does the elder Dance in St. Leonard, Shoreditch, 
two specimens of great beauty, elegance and solidity, but defi¬ 
cient in this first requisite of a bell tower, a sufficiently apparent 
foundation. 

The steeple, as you may perceive, commences on the summit 
of the pediment and roof, by a square rusticated tower of 
twenty-one feet on each side. In the centre is a clock, which 
breaks the monotony of the masonry. On the upper part of 
this is a circular peristyle of columns of the Corinthian order. 
A blocking course and two lofty steps surmount the cornice 
and form a base to eight caryatic figures of the winds, 
which support an entablature, a blocking course, and a series of 
eight trusses, bearing up as many ribs, upon a cupola, which 
finish upon its vertex, and support a pedestal and weathercock. 











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METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


43 


The setting off of the square tower to the circular temple is too 
abrupt for symmetry, and consequently fails in producing a 
beautiful effect. The composition is not sufficiently pyramidal, 
nor lofty, but the female figures, and the semicircular headed 
apertures between them, are novel in design, and elegant in 
effect. Its height is about seventy-five feet from the roof, or 
120 feet from the ground. 

As we are on this side, let us go down High Street, take a 
look at the Eastern front, which has an original and striking 
appearance on this side, from the effect of the almost meridian 
sun which is now shining upon it; and enter the church, by 
the south eastern entrance. Over the corresponding door, is a 
similar niche to that before us, and the wing is ornamented in 
every respect in a similar manner. 

The floor of the church is raised five or six steps above the 
level of the cemetery, which is a method that should always be 
adopted, as the ground of the church-yard is always increasing 
in height. Witness the number of churches in the country 
whose floors are become by such means much below the level 
of the surrounding soil, to the great injury of the healths of 
the congregation. 

The interior, which we are now entering, is, as you perceive, 
spacious, aiiy and commodious; and, having a second gallery, 
will accommodate an immense congregation, the members of 
which can all hear and see as well as in any church in the me¬ 
tropolis. The arrangement of the galleries and pews, and the 
distribution of the seats, are all excellent as far as hearing and 
seeing are concerned, but are too theatrical in appearance, for 
an edifice of so sacred a character as a church. This appear¬ 
ance is still farther increased by the private pews, which stand¬ 
ing in the diagonal sides in tiers bear also too great a resemblance 
to the private boxes, and the altar and its decorations, with the 
organ in its centre, and the flimsy linen transparency in its 
front, to the proscenium of a theatre. With these exceptions, 
the interior is rich and splendid, and bears evidence of a sound 
and pure taste in its architect. The lower part of the altar- 
piece is also in excellent style, and the altar picture of a holy 
family, by West, is one of the best productions of that facile 
painter. 

The pulpit and desks are beautifully carved in mahogany, 

H 


44 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


and are very appropriate to their destined purposes. The 
ceiling, as you may perceive, is broad and bold in style, and 
effective in execution. The splendid effect of this church on 
Sundays, when filled by a congregation of the first wealth and 
information in the British metropolis, cannot be surpassed. 

Our morning is wasting fast, we have much to see and to 
talk about, and the pew-opener is waiting to lock the doors 
after us; therefore, if you please, we will leave this singularly 
original design, return into the Park by York Gate, and pursue 
our peregrinations. I almost had forgotten to say, that the 
expense of building the church, including the charge incurred 
by the alterations from the original design of a chapel into a 
church, was about £60,000. 

See the rich embroidered prospect now before us ! Look on 
our right how the huge cupola of the Coliseum spreads its 
ample rotunda among the groves of mansions, pleasure grounds 
and squares. See the bizarre minarets of Sussex Place on our 
left, in direct opposition to it; and the tasteful pilasters of 
Cornwall Terrace, how they play in the sunny corruscations of 
this brilliant morning. With how much more justice might the 
poet exclaim, had he lived to see our metropolis in this our 
day,— 

" this splendid city 

How wanton sits she, amidst nature’s smiles ; 

Nor from her highest turret has to view. 

But golden landscapes, and luxuriant scenes, 

A waste of wealth, the store-house of the world.” 

Y OUNG. 

York Terrace. 

Now we are again in the confines of the park. The buildings 
on our right and left are York Terrace, designed by Mr. Nash. 
That which is eastward of York Gate, we will leave till we 
return to it after our circuit, and inspect that on our left. This 
splendid row of princely mansions, has the appearance of one 
single building, of a complete palatial character; owing to all 
the entrances being in the rear, where large and characteristic 
porches protect the vestibules, and serve for the reception of 
dressed company from carriages in bad weather. All the doors 
and windows in this lawn or principal front, are uniform, and 
have the appearance of a suit of princely apartments rather 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


45 


than a row of private dwellings. This idea is kept up by the 
pleasing and judicious arrangement of the gardens, which have 
no divisions, but are laid out in the style of grounds belonging 
to the palace. The elevation is in a good Italian style of archi¬ 
tecture in composition, with Grecian detail; and consists of an 
entrance or ground story, with semicircular headed windows, 
and rusticated piers. A stylobate, or continued pedestal above 
the rusticated arches of these windows, runs through the whole 
composition, divided between the columns into balustrades in 
front of the windows of the one pair or principal story, to 
which they form balconies of a handsome architectural cha¬ 
racter, much superior to the trivial thread-like iron balconies of 
its predecessors. Lofty, well-proportioned windows, that give 
light to the elegant drawing-rooms of the principal story, are 
perforated immediately on the cornice of the stylobate, and in 
accordance with the majestic simplicity of the order to which they 
belong (the Ionic of the Ilyssus), they are left without decoration. 
A similar range of windows, of the same width but less in 
height, are constructed for the use of the principal chamber 
story, and like those of the drawing-room story are also without 
dressings. These two stories form the principal architectural 
features of the terrace, and are decorated with a colonnade of 
the Ilyssus Ionic order. The angles are finished in antis, and 
the order is completed by a well proportioned entablature, 
adapted with great propriety from the same beautiful specimen 
of the order. On the summit of the cornice is constructed an 
attic story, which by prescription is allowed to wander a little 
into the bizarre, but this strays rather too much into the 
irregular, to accompany so chaste a composition as the Ionic, to 
which it forms a crown. The cornice and blocking course are 
both also too small in proportion for the majesty of the lower 
order. A contrast there should be certainly, but not in style. 
It is in a different key, and is a false concord, when only an 
harmonious discord was required. The windows between the 
piers or pilasters of this story, are of the same width as those 
below, and finished with semicircular heads and sash windows 
in correspondence with those of the lower story. 

Now we will proceed in our excursion, but hark ! at that 
delightful harp. The very circumstance of not seeing the 
charming player enhances the romance of the scene. How the 


45 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

swelling chords wander about the ear. It comes from that open 
window, with the tamboured muslin curtains, and it accords so 
completely with the harmony of the scene, that I cannot tear 
myself away. The lovely musician is revelling in all the bril¬ 
liancy of Arpeggio variations upon the beautiful Venetian air 
sul margine del rio. Mark the rapidity with which she executes 
that brillante passage, swelling from the minutest piano to the 
most powerful forte , stopping as if by magic in an instant 
. and then reverting to the original air. It ceases! Well! the 
highest enjoyments are often the most brief. Therefore now 
let us proceed. 


Cornwall Terrace. 

This next row of buildings is one of the first, and at the 
same time one of the prettiest, that have been erected in the 
Park. It is called Cornwall Terrace, after our present 
King’s ducal title, when Regent of these kingdoms. The 
houses are not on so large a scale as those in York Terrace, 
but possess a character for regular beauty that some of their 
more colossal neighbours want. This terrace is erected from 
the designs of Mr. Decimus Burton, and possesses a character 
of beauty and scholastic regularity, that is highly creditable to 
the talents of this young architect. It consists of a rusticated 
ground story, which forms a well proportioned basement to the 
Corinthian order of the principal stories. The doors and win¬ 
dows correspond in character, and preserve an appearance of 
unity highly agreeable to the eye. This rusticated story pro¬ 
jects beyond the face of the upper, which is of the Corinthian 
order, with fluted shafts, well proportioned capitals, and an 
equally well proportioned entablature. The windows, dressings, 
accessories and other architectural and sculptural embellish¬ 
ments of this very elegant row of houses, are in good taste, 
and present to our view an architectural facade of singular 
beauty. 


Clarence Terrace. 

Let us now continue our ramble. This picturesque row of 
houses is named after his Royal Highness the Lord high Ad- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


47 


miral of England, and is also from the drawing board of Mr. 
Burton, junior. It is in three portions, a centre and two wings, 
of the Corinthian order, connected by two colonnades of the 
Ilyssus Ionic order. This terrace is the smallest in the park; 
and from the circumstance of its projecting wings, and its Ionic 
colonnade, it presents a greater variety in its composition, and 
a more imposing effect, than if it were straight upon its face, 
and had not such bold features. The elevation is divided into 
three stories ; namely, a rusticated entrance, which serves as a 
basement to the others, a Corinthian order embellishing the 
drawing-room and chamber stories, and a well proportioned 
entablature : these form the principal features of this pleasing 
composition. 

If we cross over to the pavement of the terrace, and turn our 
backs upon the houses, we shall enjoy one of the most pleasing 
views in the park. Look at the beautiful expanse of the lake 
before us ! See the exquisite diversity of scene, occasioned by 
the islets or holmes that lay upon its tranquil bosom, in all the 
variety of nature, when at the same time they are the effects of 
art. Such power has the artist of pure taste, who looks to 
nature as his guide, in the formation of living pictures like the 
scene that we are now enjoying. 

A house, situate like one of these, possesses the double ad¬ 
vantage of town and country. By its contiguity to the fashion¬ 
able and business parts of the metropolis, it forms a complete 
town residence; and by the romantic beauty of the decorated 
landscape scenery by which it is surrounded, it is equal to any 
part of the country for health and domestic retirement, for men 
of business, 


“ When weary they retreat 
T* enjoy cool nature in a country seat, 

T’ exchange the centre of a thousand trades 
For clumps and lawns, and t-eroples and cascades.” 

Cowper. 

How charming is the appearance of those two beautiful 
villas, the Holme and South-villa, from this spot; surrounded 
as they are by such luxuriant vegetation of shrubs and trees, 
and flowers, redolent of beauty and of the sweetest perfume. 

Now let us proceed. The whimsical row of houses, that we 
are now approaching is, 


48 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


Sussex Place, 

designed, I believe, by Mr. Nash. In elevation it presents a 
singular contrast to the chaster beauties of the other terraces 
and places, by which it is surrounded ; and was perhaps intro 
duced purposely by its able architect for the sake of picturesque 
variety. For architectural beauty or good taste, if we separate 
the pagoda-like cupolas of this pile, and the bizarre style of 
decoration which it displays, from its adjacent scenery and ac¬ 
cessories, it is entitled to no commendation on the score of 
pure style : but, when considered with the eye of a landscape 
painter, it presents a variety of form, and an assemblage of 
picturesque outlines, which diversify the scene, and prevent a 
monotony of effect that might otherwise have been tedious. 
The horticultural accessories, are pleasingly adapted to the 
houses, and the situation, which commands some of the most 
charming prospects in the park, is one of the most delightful 
suburban sites in this region of beauty. The lake spreads its 
tranquil bosom before the fagade, and reflects its eastern-like 
cupolas with pleasing effect. The varied plantations of the 
park, group with singular felicity, and the delightful season, that 
we are now enjoying, gives a double relish to the natural beauties 
of the place. 

Now let us proceed, as the morning is wearing away apace, 
and we have much to occupy our attention. 

Our next object is the handsome row of mansions on our 
left, named after his Majesty’s continental kingdom and here¬ 
ditary dominions, 


Hanover Terrace; 

which is also a design of Mr. Nash’s, and in a more gramma¬ 
tical style of architecture than that which we have now left. 
It has a centre and two wing buildings, of the Doric order, the 
acroteria of which are surmounted by statues and other sculp¬ 
tural ornaments in terra cotta. The centre building is crowned 
by a well proportioned pediment, the tympanum of which is 
embellished with statues and figures in a wretched style of art 
which the architect would do well to remove. The style of 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


49 


architecture employed by the artist is Italian or Palladian, and 
remarkably well adapted for the description of dwelling houses, 
of which the structure is composed. The capitals are well pro¬ 
portioned in design, and well executed, but the entablature is 
weak in profile and inefficient in character, for the height of the 
building to which it is appropriated. 

The stories of the mansions are lofty, and elegantly finished, 
and the domestic arrangement of the various rooms convenient, 
and laid out in a masterly style. The situation of this very 
pretty terrace is near the north western extremity of the western 
branch of the lake which embellishes and refreshes the park. 
The islet which faces its northernmost wing sweetly diversifies 
the scene, and gives a charming sylvan character to the prospect 
from the houses. 

The knoll of Primrose hill which appears above the tops of 
the young plantations, looks charmingly, as that passing cloud 
is diversifying its emerald bosom, and removing a somewhat too 
great monotony. A large reservoir of water is being formed 
upon its summit for the supply of the houses in the park, as 
high as their upper stories. This undertaking will add to the 
character which our countrymen have ever enjoyed of adding 
the useful to the ornamental. 

Now let us rest a while, and enjoy the passing by of this bevy 
of fair demoiselles on their prancing jennets, who appear 
proud of their lovely burthens ; accompanied by the gentle 
cavaliers who are escorting them, with beaming eyes and re¬ 
joicing hearts. 

How beautiful that group of detached buildings, north of 
Hanover Terrace, composes from the situation in which we now 
are. The first on our left is Albany Cottage, the picturesque 
residence of Thomas Raikes, Esq. As a specimen of the Eng¬ 
lish cottage ornee, it is scarcely to be surpassed, even in this 
region of architectural and picturesque beauty. The planta¬ 
tions accord with the architecture in a singularly happy manner, 
and at this youthful season of the year, give out delicious and 
health-inspiring perfumes. 

“ Welcome thou mother of the year, the spring,” 

sings old Kit Marlow in his masque of the Sun’s darling, 


50 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


« That mother, on whose back Age ne’er can sit, 

For Age still waits upon her ; that Spring, the nurse 
Whose milk the Summer sucks, and is made wanton; 

Physician to the sick, strength to the sound ; 

By whom all things above and under ground 

Are quicken’d with new heat, fresh blood, brave vigour. 

That spring that on fair cheeks in kisses lays 
Ten thousand welcomes.” 

What can surpass the health-inspiring odour that now sur¬ 
rounds us ; the gaiety of our lightened spirits, the suavity of 
that cloudless sky, or the mirthful carols of the little birds, 
which in this “ violet-breathing May,” are exulting in the very 
joyousness of their being? 


“ Hark! the cuckows sing 
Cuckow to welcome in the spring. 

Brave prick-song ! who is’t now we hear? 

’Tis the lark’s silver leer-a-leer. 

Chirrup the sparrow flies away: 

For he fell to’t ere break of day. 

Ha, ha, hark, hark! the cuckows sing, 

Cuckow, to welcome in the Spring. 

Marlow. 

Shall we rise ? The next pretty house on the left beyond 
Albany Cottage, is Hanover Lodge, the tasteful dwelling of the 
gallant Colonel Sir Robert Arbuthnot K. C. B. This modest 
mansion has greater pretensions to architectural character, than 
its rural neighbour, and its accessaries of course, are in a more 
sculptural style. 

The house is entered under a handsome portico, which opens 
into a spacious hall; the cieling of which is supported by marble 
columns, and its floor decorated with a handsome tessellated 
pavement. A well-proportioned dining room nineteen feet six 
inches in length, by sixteen feet in width adjoins the hall on 
one side, and on another is a splendid suit of three elegant 
drawing rooms, extending above sixty feet in length when the 
doors are opened, by eighteen feet in breadth. A stone stair¬ 
case of good proportions leads to the upper story, which com¬ 
prises nine handsome bed-chambers, a bathing room with every 
accommodation for that healthful luxury, dressing rooms, and 
other requisites for a respectable family. The basement story 
contains an extensive range of culinary, and serviceable domes- 















































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


51 

tic offices, and the out buildings of a neat lodge on each side of 
the entrance, a gardener’s lodge, dormitories for men servants, 
a double coach house, four stall stable, coachman’s room and 
and other conveniences. 

The grounds, for a town residence are spacious, and laid out 
with considerable taste and elegance. The variety of form, and 
apparent natural effect of the meandering' walks, and irregular 
shaped beds, and baskets cut out in the emerald-velvet turf, 
give greater delight to the tasteful eye, and more pleasure to the 
cultivated mind, than the banished formalities of the mathe¬ 
matical school of gardening, of Kent and his contemporaries. 

Had that artist been entrusted with the laying out of these 
grounds he would have sought jokes and conceits in every walk, 
and have dug practical puns in every bed : even as he sent 
ladies to court, (for he was as often employed in designing 
garments for the gaudy nymphs of his day, as he was man¬ 
sions and pleasure grounds), with bodices and flounces deco¬ 
rated with the five orders of architecture. Entablatures on 
their lovely backs, columns wreathed round their wavy limbs, 
and bases and pedestals on their capacious petticoats. 

Had Kent I say, laid out these grounds, he would have dis¬ 
played in cut box, or more formal yew, the star and insignia 
of the commander of the military order of the Bath, with 
which the gallant proprietor is ennobled. The white horse of 
Hanover would have shone in chalk in commemoration of the 
name which graces the mansion, and the crest, family arms 
and honorary additions would have been emblazoned in all the 
honours of London pride, and Virginia stock, in proper colours ; 
with multangular and polygonal beds; in which all the geome¬ 
trical figures in the first book of Euclid would have been prac¬ 
tically demonstrated. 

Now to pursue our journey. The Italian villa before us on 
the right hand side of the road, is the suburban retreat of the 
Marquess of Hertford, designed by Mr. Decimus Burton. Its 
buildings and offices are on a larger scale than any other in the 
park, and are accordant in style with the wealth of its noble 
owner. Simplicity and chastity of style, characterize its exte¬ 
rior, and its interior is in the same style of beautiful simplicity. 
The entrance hall is protected by a hexastyle portico of that 
singular Athenian order, which embellishes the door of the 

I 


r s2 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


octagonal tower of Andronicus Cyrrhestes, known to Grecian 
antiquaries, as the tower of the winds. The roof is Venetian 
with projecting eaves, supported by cantalivers, and concealed 
gutters to prevent the dripping of the rain water from the eaves. 
The wings are surmounted by spacious glass lanterns, which 
light the upper rooms. The offices are abundantly spacious, 
being spread out like the villas of the ancients upon the ground 
floor, and are designed in the same style of chaste simplicity as 
the mansion. 

The entrance lodge is particularly chaste, and the gates solid 
and park-like; the plantations eminently beautiful, and the 
tout ensemble of the whole demesne in good taste. 

This is decorated simplicity, such as the hand of taste, aided 
by the purse of wealth can alone execute. Yet less expense, 
aided by a pure taste, may accomplish beauty. Even in the 
recesses of a distant country village, taste may improve the 
most rigid economy. Such as a poet, whose name I do not at 
present remember, describes as 

“ Close in the dingle of a wood 
Obscur’d with boughs a cottage stood ; 

Sweet-briar deck’d its lowly door, 

And vines spread all the summit o’er. 

An old barn’s gable end was seen, 

Sprinkled with nature’s mossy green. 

Hard on the right, from whence the flail 
Of thrasher sounded down the vale': 

A vale where many a flow’ret gay 
Sipp’d a clear stream—let on its way : 

A vale, above whose leafy shade 
The village steeple shows its head.” 

Here is a beautiful spot, between the north eastern boundary 
of Lord Hertford’s villa, and the portion in preparation for the 
use of the menageries and gardens of the Zoological Society* 
for such a Cottage-ornee as my friend Dashwood wishes to 
have for his London residence, since he has been returned by 
his independent neighbours as their representative in parlia¬ 
ment. 

In such a place as this, nothing like a town house should be 
allowed to insinuate its brazen face. No Grosvenor Square 
mansion, nor Grecianized sugar-house, should be skirted by 
emerald lawns, like those about us. Nor, as the animated author 
of “ Sayings and Doings” says, should “ an upright villa, with 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENT'S. 53 

a flight of steps leading up to the door, with a round weedy 
pond on a lawn, looking like a basin of green pease soup on a 
card table,” be allowed to contaminate the hallowed place. 

A rural style of architecture, should alone preponderate in a 
spot of such polished rurality as this before us. A house in full 
puff, or a mansion in a court-cut coat and bag wig, would be as 
preposterous, among the green fields and gay plantations of the 
Regent’s Park, as my friend Dashwood himself would be in his 
full bottomed wig and silk gown, following the Leicestershire 
fox hounds, breast high among the sportsmen. In this paradise 
of rural charms, the architect who would compose his design 
in accordance with the natural beauties of the surrounding 
scenery, should say with the poet, before he commences his 
sketch, 

f< To me more dear, congenial to my heart 
One nature charm, than all the gloss of art.” 

Were comfort my aim, in composing a fit dwelling for my 
friend, in the very best part of the park, it should be a cottage, 
an English cottage, not, as Dr. Johnson defines it, “ a low 
mean house in the country,” but a genuine English cottage in 
the vicinity of the metropolis. Such, as my friend could unbend 
in, amidst his beloved domestic circle, and renovate his mental 
and bodily powers, in true and friendly hospitality and enjoy¬ 
ment. 

My friend’s cottage, therefore, shall not be the abode of either 
poverty or penuriousness. It shall not be, as a witty writer in 
Blackwood’s Magazine asserts all cottages are, infested with 
colonies of rats, or communities of sparrows. It shall have 
neither damp walls, nor smoky chimneys ; nor will I allow a 
scolding wife ever to enter its love-inspiring doors, without 
being metamorphosed into a resemblance of its handsome mis¬ 
tress, who is an example of perpetual smiling good humour, and 
amiable cheerfulness. 

The plantations are almost to my mind, therefore a very few 
additions will accomplish that necessary appendage to the 
grounds of my friend’s proposed cottage residence. It should 
be built on that rising knoll, with its entrance front towards the 
north-west, and, as a good name is every thing, I would call it 
Belle-^rove. 


54 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


The front I would place at a moderate distance from the road, 
inasmuch as the canal, and the opposite plantations, vouch for 
the impossibility of having opposite neighbours too near. The 
elevation should be simple, with a plain portico, of a size suffi¬ 
ciently ample to admit a carriage under its roof, to set down 
their fair cargoes in rainy weather without danger to their deli¬ 
cate habiliments. 

The first hall, or vestibule should be sufficiently large, to 
contain the cloaks, garden-bonnets, hats, coats, parasols, and 
other exuviae of the drawing-room guests ; for all strangers, 
servants, tradesmen, &c., should have a distinct entrance near to 
the servants’ hall, so that robbery need not be apprehended. 
In this general apartment, I would provide room for the bows 
and arrows of Dashwood’s boys, who are famous archers, and 
their father encourages this exercise as tending to expand the 
chest, and strengthen the muscles of the arms and back. In it 
should also be a good sized billiard table, around which my 
friend may walk from six to eight miles of a rainy day, by way 
of exercise, and afford active amusement to his visiters. 

Of guns, I say nothing, for although our park abounds with 
game, my friend is a man of too studious habits to be much of 
a shot, and even if he equalled Colonel Hawker himself, he 
would carry his fowling propensities farther a field than the 
cockney counties of Middlesex or Surry. 

The gentleman’s own room should adjoin this general apart¬ 
ment, and have also a communication with the common hall of 
entrance, and have the accommodations of a bath, a dressing 
table, and other suitable apparatus, besides that of a small 
writing table. 

i he dining room, Sxiould be placed on the right, or westward 
side of the hall, and should be so situated, for I like to assign a 
reason for my dispositions, because the view from this corner of 
the building, being the least interesting, suits in my mind the 
occupation of the dinner hour, when all eyes being engaged 
upon the banquet, they require less external attraction. In 
fact, the finest prospects fade before that of the table ; for who, 
I would ask, at the hour of six, the eye is satiated by the highly 
dressed scenery about this charming neighbourhood, and the 
body fatigued by exercise or business, would not rather survey 
the gratifying display of the hospitable and well arranged 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 55 

family dinner table, than even the magnificent expanse of Table 
bay itself ? 

Then, when the banquet is removed, and the snow white 
damask is carried off, leaving the fine green baize cover, as a 
preservative of the richly polished table; does it not, at such 
an interesting moment, when the produce of the Madeiras, of 
Oporto, of the east and of the west are about to be arranged 
for our gratification, more than rival the smiling beauties of the 
first fine day at the close of winter, such 


“ As the young Spring gives,” 


Spenser. 


when the balmy air, warmed by the increasing power of the 
sun, dissolves the wintry snow upon the verdant lawns, and as 
Horace says, 


“ Fled are the snows, the verdant turf appears.” 

On the opposite, or left hand side of the hall, I would place 
the morning room, or room of general occupancy ; which should 
have a private door opening to a passage leading to the stable 
yard, the offices of which, should be at a sufficient distance 
from the house, not to be offensive. The door of the coach 
house, should face the south, which is a rule never to be deviated 
from, for the benefit of the sun to dry the carriages when wet. 
Adjoining the stable yard, I would arrange the melon and 
cucumber grounds, for the conveniency of the dung-pit, and to 
keep the kitchen garden free from litter. 

The summer breakfast room, the withdrawing room, the 
ladies’ room, for a professed boudoir would not be strictly in cha¬ 
racter with a cottage, should be in the rear, opening to the 
south-east, and all on the ground floor. It is matter of faith 
with me, and orthodoxy in my creed, that it is the character 
of the genuine cottage to have all the before-mentioned rooms 
on the ground floor. Indeed, for myself, I should prefer even 
my bed chamber to be on the ground floor, and adjoining to my 
own dressing room. 

These apartments, I would shelter from the meridian sun, by 
a broad verandah, the supporters of which should be overgrown 
with woodbine, jessamine, honey-suckles, the white fragrant 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


56 

clematis, called from the circumstance of its pouring forth its 
greatest profusion of odours in the evening, u the labourer s wel¬ 
come home,” monthly roses, which in such a situation would 
bloom even in merry Christmas tide, the twice flowering amber- 
coloured corcorus japonicus, the sweetly scented pea, the darling 
mignonette, which, by a new mode of culture, can be had in 
bloom, nearly all the year. 

Then in front of this verandah, the windows under which, 
should all open as French sashes down to the floor, and which 
facing 

“ the sweet south, 

That breathes upon a bank of violets. 

Stealing and giving odour,” 


should be a wide gravel walk, as yellow and as smooth as a Li¬ 
merick glove ; then a lawn, as level and as shorn as the cloth of 
a billiard table, interspersed with a few irregularly shaped 
patches, like a slashed doublet, filled with nature’s embroidery, 
hardy annuals, geraniums sunk in pots, so as to be removed into 
the conservatory in hard weather; Lady Holland’s botanical 
pride, the splendid and hardy Dahlia and other beautiful 

“ flowers, as many 

As the young spring gives, and choice as any.” 

Spenser. 

On the south treillage raised against the back of the kitchen 
chimney, for the sake of the warmth, I would have a splendid 
plant of the Magnolia grandiflora, to scent the apartments and 
grounds with its almond-like fragrance. I would have an abun¬ 
dance of sweet-briers, and many of the best varieties of the 
scented cabbage rose, some of which I would have grafted on 
lofty stocks, that they might be smelt or gathered without 
stooping. 

Of the dormitories, I shall say but little, except that as my 
friend’s cottage is to be only one story high above the principal 
floor ; those for the servants should be approached by a different 
staircase, and separate from those of his family. The men ser¬ 
vants’ rooms should be in the stable offices. 

As the cottage would be detached, I would have it thatched, 
not that rough sort of thatch like an Irishman’s wig, which, one 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


57 

might suppose, covered Miss Hamilton's celebrated cottage at 
Glenburnie, or many of the cabins in Ireland 


“ That keep every thing else but the weather clean out 

Dibdin. 

where a hurdle or an old cart wheel is thrown upon the roof to 
keep the thatch from being blown away. The thatch that I 
would have, should be formed of combed wheat straw, laid thick 
and smooth, and trimmed at the eaves, with compact ornamented 
ridges and verges. This sort of roof is not only very handsome 
and appropriate to the gentleman’s cottage, but is the warmest 
covering in winter, and the coolest in summer, while slating is 
directly the reverse. 

But to return to the garden, which I have not quite finished. 

I would have a small fountain, the jet of which should be 
supplied from an elevated cistern in the stable yard. This would 
be a source of admiration and amusement to my friend’s chil¬ 
dren, and at the same time, give an agreeable undulation to the 
air in sultry weather, while a basin at its base would afford pro¬ 
tection to a few brace of gold and silver fish, and without the 
pretence of a regular aquarium, would accommodate a few water 
lilies and other fragrant and curious aquatic plants. 

I would also have a small rosarium which would provide rose¬ 
buds for the pot-pourri, and leaves for scent-bags, and the use 
of the still worm. Near to the rosarium I would have a hedge 
of the gray and spikey lavender, and beds of other fragrant flowers, 
and herbs for the same domestic purpose. A small orchard, 
should also be provided, if the size of the grounds permitted, 
to furnish the desert with choice specimens of fruit; while be¬ 
neath the trees, for due economy, I would sow lucerne, sain¬ 
foin and clover for green meat for the horses. 

Such should be the sort of cottage that I would build for my 
friend Dashwood in the Regent’s Park, and I think you must 
give me some credit for my talents of building castles in the air, 
in this instance. 

Let us now cross Macclesfield Bridge, and mount the easy 
summit of Primrose Hill. The construction of this bridge, 
designed by Mr. Morgan, is very picturesque, appropriate 
and architectural. Its piers are composed of a series of cast 
iron columns of the Grecian Doric order; from the summits of 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


58 

which spring the arches w’hich support a flat viaduct or road¬ 
way, and cover witli their lofty heads, the road-way of the 
towing-path, the canal itself, and the shrubberies on its southern 
bank. The abacus, echinus and hypotrachelion or the order, 
are in beautiful proportion, and the shafts of ample size. 

The archivolts that form the support of the road-way, are also 
in accordance with the order; although fastidious critics may 
object to the dignity of the pure ancient Doric being violated 
by degrading it into supporters of modern arches. See the plate 
of Macclesfield Bridge. 

If any excuse can be found for this error in taste, it is in 
the necessity of the case, or rather in the advantages that result 
from it. The centre arch is appropriated to the canal and the 
towing-path, and the two external arches to the accommodation 
of foot passengers beneath them, and as viaducts for the road 
above them. Solid piers, therefore, would have rendered the two 
external arches, dark vaults; and perforations in them, would 
only have furnished dingy apertures with awkward angles. 
By carrying the springings of the arches on columns, these diffi¬ 
culties were removed, and by springing minor arches transversely 
to the road, cutting the main arches with bonnet groins, the whole 
is rendered light, airy, and convenient. The only objection is in 
the choice of columns of the Grecian order , the first born of archi¬ 
tecture, for this degrading office, and in depriving them of their 
natural and effective epistyles, which might have been agree¬ 
ably and tastefully connected with the archivolts of the vous- 
soirs, by the substitution of common place bonnet groinings of 
the coal cellar ; whilst the less pure architecture of Rome 
would have furnished abundance of precedents for the support 
of arches by columns—and the architecture of Greece does not 
afford even a solitary example of the practice. It has, however, 
a beautiful and light appearance, and is an improvement in exe¬ 
cution upon a design of Perronet’s for an architectural bridge, 
that is, a bridge of orders. The columns are well proportioned, 
and suitably robust, carrying solidity, grace and beauty in every 
part; from the massy grandeur of the abacus, to the graceful 
revolving of the beautiful echinus, and to the majestic simplicity 
of the slightly indented flutings. Had indeed the archivolt, 
formed after the architrave of the order, been surmounted by a 
proper entablature and blocking course, with scamilli set back 



Published Peb^lQ. 13JS.bvJones Z: C“ 3. .Acton Flace, KingslandRoacL. Londor 


























































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


59 


as the rise, or perforated with panels, the bridge would have been 
unexceptionably the most novel, and the most tasteful in the 
metropolis. Even as it is, it is scarcely surpassed for lightness, 
elegance, and originality by any in Europe. It is of the same 
family, with the beautiful little bridge in Hyde Park, between 
the new entrance and the barracks. 

Let us now re-enter the park, and proceed with our journey. 
The grounds in preparation on our right, are for that very useful 
and praiseworthy institution the Zoological Society, and are in¬ 
tended for the reception of their living animals, after the mode 
of the establishment called the garden of plants at Paris. This 
new establishment will consist of a spacious menagerie, an 
aviary for choice birds, a museum for stuffed and preserved spe¬ 
cimens ; and fish ponds, with other necessary appendages for 
the cultivation of Zoological studies. 

The east gate, or, as I believe it is to be called, Chester Gate, 
is now before us. We examined it yesterday in our general 
perambulation, (see page 22), therefore shall pass it by, and keep 
within the delightful verge of the park. 

The pile of buildings that w T e are now approaching is the 
new 

% 

Collegiate Church, and Hospital of St. Katherine, 

and is building in lieu of the ancient foundation of that name, 
which has lately been pulled down to make way for the great 
commercial establishment, the dock of St. Katherine, near the 
Tower, now in progress. 

As the sun is passing hot, and this seat opportunely vacant, 
we may rest ourselves before we approach the building, and 
view its grouping at a distance. Being very little of an anti¬ 
quary, I must refer you to Dr. Ducarel’s elaborate history of St. 
Katherine’s, for historical accounts of its founders, and other 
particulars. But it is a singular instance of the mutability of 
human affairs, that a portion of our vast metropolis, which one 
of our most splendid monarchs, Edward III., the magnificent 
founder of Windsor Castle, intended as a metropolitan court, 
under the name of East Minster , or the Abbey of St. Mary of 
the Graces, and as a rival to West Minster , should become in 

Iv 


60 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


after times, as “ St. Katherine’s ,” the most disgraceful and abo- 
minabtte of all the low precincts of the metropolis. 

The memory of this foundation is recalled to my mind, as 
having been for years past under the spiritual guidance of the 
mild, amiable and truly Rev. G. F. Nicolay, who was presented 
to the honourable office of senior brother, together with the 
parish of my ancestors, St. Michael Royal in the city, by the 
late Queen Charlotte, to whom his father, the celebrated composer, 
was music master. 

This small ecclesiastical establishment, whose proper title is 
“ the peculiar and exempt jurisdiction of the collegiate church 
or free chapel of St. Katherine, the Virgin and Martyr,” was 
founded by the bold and ambitious Matilda, queen consort of 
king Stephen, in the year 1148, and dedicated to St. Katherine. 
It was dissolved in 1272, and the present hospital founded in 
the following year by queen Eleanor, and dedicated to the same 
saint. It has continued unaltered till its present removal. 

The establishment of this college, or hospital, consists at pre¬ 
sent, as it did on its second foundation by queen Eleanor, of a 
master, three brothers, who must be in priest’s orders, three 
sisters, single women, ten bedes-women usually nominated by the 
master, a registrar, a high-bailiff, and some other officers. 

The buildings of this Royal college, as I before mentioned, 
were all swept away, by the spirit of commercial enterprize, to 
make way for the new docks, and are rebuilding, as we now 
see them, in the more royal situation of the Regent’s Park. 
The old church, as I well remember, was a handsome structure, 
though much concealed from sight by the confined nature of 
its situation ; and had a more modern appearance, from the neat 
state of repair, in which it had been kept, than its real anti¬ 
quity warranted. The interior was well deserving of notice, 
but all that remains of it now, are descriptions in the works 
of our archaiologists, and fragments collected and preserved by 
some curious admirers of our ancient architecture, at the sale 
of its old materials. Among these, Mr. Cottingham the archi¬ 
tect, who is known to the public by many excellent prints of the 
ancient architecture of England, has completed a Gothic 
museum adjoining his office in Waterloo Road, from its interest¬ 
ing fragments. 

The ancient structure consisted of the church, cloisters, a 



METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


61 


burial ground, the sister’s close and dwellings, the brother’s 
houses, the master’s house, bedes-women’s houses, a court-room, 
chapter-room, &c. 

The church was divided into a body and a choir by a hand¬ 
some carved screen. The choir consisted of a nave, and two 
aisles. The windows were handsome and light, particularly the 
east window, which was deservedly admired for its magnificent 
size and elegant proportions, by every connoisseur and admirer 
of our ancient ecclesiastical architecture. This splendid win¬ 
dow was the largest in and about the metropolis, being thirty 
feet in height, by twenty-four in width, and contained 561 feet 
of glass, exclusive of the stone mullions and tracery. It poured 
a majestic and almost overpowering flood of light, over the 
antique pillars and venerable monuments that were in the 
church, and set forth their beauties in the highest perfection. 
The altar-piece that was under this emblematical eastern source 
of light, was of pure design, and in the richest style of the florid 
Gothic. The beautiful stalls, which I am happy to learn, are, 
with other parts of this venerable fabric, carefully preserved for 
re-erection in the new chapel, were began by William de Erl- 
desby, master of the hospital, in 1340, and were finished by 
John de Hermesthorp, who was master in 1369. 

Among the valuable antiquities that are to be thus reinstated, 
in the new chapel, is the singular and curiously carved historical 
pulpit that was given in 1621, by Sir Julius Csesar, the then 
master; who repaired the entire edifice, and was otherwise a 
great benefactor. It is hexagonal in plan, each angle has an 
Ionic pilaster, with a fanciful entablature that forms the upper 
rim or desk of the pulpit. Each pilaster is panelled, and has a 
scroll of foliage within it. Between each pilaster, that is on 
every face, is an arch springing from an impost; under the ar- 
chivolt of which is carved in relief a view of some part of the 
then buildings. 

As the pulpit is under repair in the carpenter’s shop, and 1 
have permission to view it, we will examine its unique carvings, 
before we go. No. 1, Ducarel informs us is the north, 2, the 
east, 3, the west, and 4, the south views of the ancient hos¬ 
pital ; 5, is the outer gate, and 6, the inner gate. By these 
sculptures, the artist has conveyed to our time, four views of 
the hospital, and also two of its gates, as they were in his c^iys. 


METROPOLITAN IMPRO YEMENIS. 


02 

This is one of the most ancient wooden pulpits now remaining 
to us, as before the Reformation, pulpits of stone of great size 
were more usual. To commemorate this, the donor has caused 
to be carved round the base, the following inscription in large 
and bold characters, “ EZRA THE SCRIBE STOOD UPON 
A PULPIT OF WOOD, WHICH HE HAD MADE FOR 
THE PREACHEN.” Neh. viii. 4. 

The splendid tomb, consisting of a canopy of curious fret¬ 
work, under which lie the marble figures of John Holland, duke 
of Exeter, his first wife, and his sister, is also to be reinstated 
in the new chapel; as are also the other monuments, and the 
valuable organ that was erected in the old church, in 1778, by 
the celebrated Mr. Green, which is reckoned to be one of the 
finest, particularly in its swell, of any in England. 

This duke of Exeter, whose tomb will occupy a conspicuous 
place in the new chapel, was a great benefactor to the hospital. 
He was lord high Admiral of England, in the reign of Henry 
VI., and also constable of the tower, and master of the hos¬ 
pital. He died August 5th, 1447 ; when this monument, with 
statues of himself, his first wife Constance and his sister, was 
erected by his second wife, who survived him. 

On the death of this lady, she by will desired her executor, 
Dr. Pinchbeke, to bury her in the same vault, and to avoid all 
unnecessary pomp and expense, which he strictly complied with. 
This is probably the reason why her figure was not placed 
with that of her husband and the other two ladies, as there is 
sufficient room. 

The Queen consorts of England, are by law the per¬ 
petual patronesses of St. Katherine’s; this hospital being con¬ 
sidered as part of their dower. They nominate, as the lawyers 
say, pleno jure , the masters, brothers and sisters; and may 
increase or lessen their number, remove them, alter any statutes, 

or make new ones at pleasure ; for their power in these instances' 
is unlimited. 

When there is no queen consort , the king nominates the 
master, brothers &c. (to borrow another law phrase) pro hac 
vice. But the Queen Dowager has no power or jurisdiction, 
when there is a queen consort. All the attempts that have been 
made m ancient and modern times for this purpose, have proved 
ineffectual; and the sentences of the courts of law have unani- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


03 

mously confirmed the great and unlimited powers of the 

Queen consorts of England, over this small ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction. 

The business of this house is transacted in chapter, by the 
master, brothers and sisters; and it is singularly remarkable 
that by the statutes, the sisters have therein a vote equally with 
the brothers; and that no business can be done there, without 
the votes of four of the members, one at least of which must 
be a sister. The other officers of this house are elected by a 
majority of votes, and their patents confirmed under the chapter 
seal. 

The principal officers so elected, are the commissary or officer 
principal, who in his licenses is styled “ Commissary or official 
of the peculiar and exempt jurisdiction of the collegiate church, 
or free chapel of St. Katherine, the Virgin and Martyrthe 
registrar, the steward, the surveyor, receiver, and chapter-clerk, 
besides a clerk, sexton &c. 

The architect of the new building, which, if you are suffi¬ 
ciently rested, we will now approach, had therefore a splendid 
original to compete with ; and it is but doing justice to well 
cultivated talent, to admit that he has eminently succeeded. 

The quadrangle on our left is the hospital, composed of the 
Collegiate church or free chapel in the centre, with dwelling 
houses on both sides for the brothers and sisters, the chaplain 
and other officers : and the building on our right directly oppo¬ 
site and overlooking it, is for the residence of the master. See 
the plate of St. Katherine*8 hospital. 

The present master is Sir Herbert Taylor, the senior brother 
the Rev. George Frederick Nicolay; and the architect, whose 
talents in designing and executing the buildings which I have 
just recommended to your notice, is Ambrose Poynter, Esq. a 
pupil of Mr. Nash. 

The church is a handsome building in the Gothic or old 
English style of architecture, and bears a truly collegiate cha¬ 
racter in its composition. The west window is well proportioned 
and in good taste, the doorways judicious, and appropriate to 
their purpose. The turretted buttresses at the angles are also in 
good proportion, but fail in effect as they rise, by being too plain 
in their crockets and finials, whereas a greater richness in these 
upper parts, increasing as they rise from the ground, in con- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


64 

formity with all our best examples, would have been productive 
of a much better effect. Whilst on the contrary, their present 
meagre finishing is too much in the French style, and resembles 
the modern Gothic of Strawberry Hill and Arlington Street 
too much, to be pleasing to the genuine admirer of the old 
English style of architecture. The wings which improve the 
effect of the composition, are for the purpose of a school-house 
on one side, and the chapter-room on the other. 

The dwellings are extremely commodious, and exhibit both 
externally as a part of the composition, and internally as in¬ 
tended for convenience and utility, a skilful and artist-like 
arrangement. 

As soon as this group of horsemen are passed, and the dust 
which they have raised has a little subsided, we will pass over 
to the master’s house, and take a general view of the quadrangle. 
But stay, one of the workmen has just opened the door of the 
church Let us therefore walk in and take a peep at Mr. 
Poynter’s interior arrangement. 

Well gentlemen ! what think ye ? Indeed this much sur¬ 
passes the outside, of which, however, I make no complaint, 
except as to the want of a little more richness in the turrets. 
This ceiling is really masterly, and characteristic, and the whole 
in plain good taste, and in excellent keeping. That east window 
is very fine, and the smaller windows in the north and south 
walls harmonize well with the master key that governs them. 
The joinery is in equally good taste with the rest of the design, 
and is admirably executed. A little more richness of colour 
from the employment of more costly materials might be wished 
for; but penuriousness towards our architects, is one among the 
vices of our patrons, that it would be well for them to amend. A 
charming air of chaste simplicity pervades the whole, which is 
in strict accordance with the appropriation of the sacred edifice. 
Its proportions are ninety feet in length, thirty in width, and 
forty-five in height. The shields under the windows are to be 
emblazoned with the arms of the Queen consorts, patronesses 
of the hospital. 

Now gentlemen, if you have satisfied yourselves with this 
inspection of the re-edifying of the proud empress Maud’s 
liberality and piety, we will cross the road, and see what modern 
liberality and science is doing for the protestant lay master of 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 65 

the once Catholic hospital of St. Katherine. Whether there 
are any pretty blue-eyed nuns of St. Katherine’s now among 
the sisters, is a question, I fear, we must not ask of the brave 
and gallant master of the sisterhood. 

Stay ! before crossing let me call your attention to the ends 
of the houses, that form the north and south sides of the quad¬ 
rangle. They are admirably characteristic of the intention of 
the founder, whilst the sculptures of the Royal and other arms, 
and inscriptions indicative of the nature of the buildings, are 
in happy accordance with the architecture and style of sculp¬ 
ture, and the mode of inscriptions of the day. 

Now for the master’s mansion. Truly were it finished, and 
some of the tawny tints of time deposited upon its surface, we 
might really take it for the habitation of the prior to some rich 
and mitred abbot. Its separated angle chimney flues, their 
ornamented tops, the fastigated gables, and narrow cell-like 
windows in the attics, the mullioned windows of the upper 
story, the bow, and bay windows, and porches to the doors of 
the principal story, give the whole a conventual or rather a 
collegiate look. See the plate of the dwelling-house of the master 
of St. Katherine's Hospital. The handsome well-laid out plea¬ 
sure grounds, the store of kitchen gardens, and the stable offices, 
reminding one of the tithe-barn, keep up the illusion : and no¬ 
thing but a father Paul or two at the windows, rubifying the 
scene like the coloured bottles in a chemist’s window, and a 
living skeleton or two in the shape of lay brothers, labouring in 
the gardens, are wanting to complete the picture. 

But in reality we shall see, instead of the high and mighty 
empress’s original intention of cloistered monks, and earth- 
bereaved nuns, supporting a few bigotted paupers ; a set of 
high spirited gentlemen, worthy brethren, and amiable sisters of 
the protestant order of St. Katherine ; at least we may so con¬ 
jecture from the domestic arrangements of the house, living a 
life of equal jollity, and of much less hypocrisy. 

Truly, these rooms are very handsome and well proportioned ; 
the cornices and other mouldings are also in due character with 
the leading features of the design, and the whole arrangement 
of the plan is judicious, convenient and appropriate. Much as 
I love the Greek style for real beauty, and apt as I am to ex¬ 
claim with Dr. Johnson “ so much Greek, so much gold,” I 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


66 

must admit on viewing this beautiful specimen of English 
domestic architecture, that a villa of the Grecian style, for the 
master of St. Katherine’s Hospital, in the sight of and overlooking 
as it does, the church and dwellings of the hospitallers, would 
have been as inappropriate, as it would be to raise the beautiful 
spire of Salisbury cathedral upon the apex of the pediment of 
the temple of Minerva Parthenon, and finishing its acroteria 
with gothic pinnacles, crockets, and florid finials. 

The materials with which this assemblage of buildings are 
constructed, are similar to those of our ancient architects, brick 
and stone. But modern art, in giving a fine and pure stone 
colour, and more than the hardness of stone to brick, has im¬ 
proved upon the heterogeneous mixture of red and black bricks, 
and white stone of our ancestors, by a happy union of stone- 
coloured bricks, and free stone. Some critics have decried 
bricks, as inimical to architecture, grounding their objections 
upon the marble edifices of Greece. Let these critics, before 
they decry the use of bricks, or attribute the want of grandeur 
in modern architecture to the use of that comparatively homely 
material, reflect, that the Romans, to whose works no want of 
grandeur can be imputed, used them in their structures with pro¬ 
digious effect, and that we may almost attribute the invention 
of the arch, the vault, and the cupola, with which they so 
gloriously displayed their architectural powers, to the practice of 
brick-making. Palladio constructed some of his finest works 
of brick, as did Wren and other eminent modern architects. 
The judicious mixture of the white brick and stone by Mr. 
Poynter in these buildings, is infinitely better than the common 
grey brick, either coloured, or its native poverty concealed by a 
deceitful covering of cement. 

Wishing the gallant lay-master of the collegiate church and 
hospital of St. Katherine, a long life to enjoy his new and com¬ 
modious abode, and thanking him for this last half hour’s 
shelter of his roof, we will with your leave, gentlemen, proceed 
on our perambulation. 

That palatial-looking pile of buildings before us on our left, 
with the majestic cupola of Mr. Hornor’s Colosseum rearing itself 
over its corniced head, is 





















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS'. 


(J7 


Chester Terrace, 

named from the royal earldom of Chester. It is designed by 
Mr. Nash, and like most of that gentleman’s works, combines 
genius and carelessness. Genius, and powerful conception, in 
the composition, and a grasp of mind equalled by no artist of 
the day in the design : and carelessness, sometimes degenerating 
to littleness, with a deficiency of elegance in the details. 

It is of the Corinthian order of architecture, of a feeble and 
effeminate character in its details, surmounted by a balustrade 
of lanky proportions and tasteless forms. The capitals do not 
spread sufficiently for the graceful beauty of the gay Corin¬ 
thian, and the volutes are too small, and are pinched up, as if 
the acanthus, whence the Callimachus of Chester Terrace 
gathered them to decorate his order, had been withered by a 
frost. See plate of Chester Terrace. 

Passing by these defects of detail, and of material of which 
the composition is constructed, Chester Terrace is a grand, bold 
and commanding row of mansions ; and forms a noble compo¬ 
sition, and a charming series of residences for such whose good 
fortune may enable them to take up their abode in this new 
city of palaces. 

The Corinthian arches at each end are novel in idea, grand in 
conception, imposing in effect, and have the appearance of 
some of the lesser triumphal arches of Rome. Inscriptions in 
memory of some of our minor but splendid victories, such as 
that of Maida, or the defence of St. Jean d’ Acre against Na¬ 
poleon Buonaparte, would make them pleasing records of British 
prowess. 

Before we part from Chester Terrace, let me call your atten¬ 
tion to the pavilion-like houses which project at each end, and 
are connected with the main body of the terrace by the Corin¬ 
thian arches, as productive of a fine and novel effect. 

The next row of houses past the Corinthian arch of Chester 

Terrace, is named 


E 


68 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


Cambridge Terrace, 

after his Majesty’s royal brother the duke of Cambridge, the 
popular viceroy of Hanover. It is smaller in every respect 
than its neighbour of Chester, and has less architectural pre¬ 
tensions. The centre, and the two wings are distinguished by 
porticoes of the Roman or pseudo-Doric order, with rusticated 
columns, which, although in bad taste, are productive of variety, 
in a situation where variety is much wanted, and form a good 
contrast with the delicate Corinthian of Chester Terrace on the 
one hand, and the majestic Doric of the Colosseum on the other. 
The superstructure, above the porticoes, which are of the height 
only of the ground story, is plain and sufficient for the purpose 
to which it is applied. The plantations which fill up the interval, 
between Cambridge Terrace and the Colosseum are judiciously 
executed, and when more grown will prevent too great a con¬ 
trast between the isolated Colossus and the group of dwelling 
houses. 

Now we will sit ourselves down, before one of the greatest 
individual enterprises, of which modern art can boast. That 
magnificent polygonal structure, covered with the vast cupola, 
and embellished with that beautiful hexastyle portico of the 
Doric order, is named, (why and wherefore is yet to be dis¬ 
cussed), 

The Colosseum ; 

and is intended for the reception and exhibition of a general 
panoramic view of London and its surrounding country as far 
as the eye can see, taken by Mr. Hornor from an observatory 
that was raised above the cross of St. Paul’s Cathedral, during 
the recent construction of the new ball and cross. In taking; 
the views, Mr. Hornor was aided by his topographical knowledge 
of the country as a skilful land-surveyor, by powerful teles¬ 
copes, and by curious machinery, for executing his sketches. 
The distant buildings, villas and features of the country, were 
also taken on the spots, and the artist-like atmospherical dis¬ 
tances, are detailed from them with a fidelity, rarely found in 
pictures of this nature. The view from this elevated spot 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 69 

which I enjoyed during the progress of the works, furnishes a 
fine illustration of the poet’s view of the vast metropolis of the 
United Kingdoms, from an elevated spot in Surry, 

" Th’ impatient muse ascends the Turret’s height 
Where ample prospects charm the roving sight: 

A richer landscape ne’er the sun survey’d. 

With lovelier verdure crown’d, or nobler shade ; 

The whole horizon, to its utmost bound. 

One bright and beauteous picture glowing round! 

Here freighted with the gems of India’s clime, 

On Thames’ broad wave rich navies ride sublime: 

There, proudly crowning her imperial stream, 

The lofty turrets of Augusta gleam. 

New objects on the dazzled vision break, 

And in th’ admiring soul new transports wake. 

Here, many a league along th’ admiring tide, 

A thousand villas stretch in rural pride ; 

There glittering spires and swelling domes ascend, 

And art and nature all their beauties blend.” 

Maubice. 


During the progress of the work, I was often a witness 
to the indefatigable perseverance and intrepidity of the artist in 
making his sketches, which he has executed with a correctness 
that cannot be surpassed. Circumstances have since separated 
us, and I can now only bear witness to his progress as any other 
of the public. The painting of the panorama is in a very for¬ 
ward state, and ere long the public will be gratified with its 
exhibition. 

The building is a polygon of sixteen sides, 130 feet in dia¬ 
meter. Each angle is strengthened by a double anta of the 
Doric order, which supports a continuous entablature without 
triglyphs, that circumscribes the edifice. The cornice is 
crowned by a blocking course, and surmounted by an attic, 
with a suitable cornice and sub-blocking, to give height to the 
building. On the summit of this upper order, the majestic 
cupola, supported by three receding scamilli or steps, is con¬ 
structed. The lower part is covered with sheet copper, and the 
upper part with a curvilinear sky-light, and finished with an 
immense open circle or eye to the cupola. 

The grandest feature of this handsome building is its portico, 
which is one of the finest and best proportioned of the Greco- 


M ETROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


70 

Doric in the metropolis, and gives a majestic feature to this part 
of the park, that cannot be surpassed. The lodges are in equal 
good taste, and do great credit to their architect, Mr. Decimus 
Burton. 

Looking at the Colosseum, either in front, on the opposite 
side of the road, from the north in coming from Chester Terrace, 
or, from the south, (see the plate of the Colosseum) it forms a 
grand and majestic composition; imposing from its size, and 
varied from its connection with the beautiful (little I was 
going to say, from their contiguity to their colossal chief) 
lodges that support the pyramidal principle of the group, 
and add to its beauty by the creation of an agreeable variety. 
The plantations, laid out by Mr. Hornor, add their share of 
embellishments to the majestic scene, and the whole picture 
is a fine specimen of architectural grandeur and sublimity, alike 
creditable to Mr. Burton, jun. the architect, and his talented 
employer Mr. Hornor. 

Now, as to its name, which I have just hinted, deserved some 
discussion. True it is, that Shakspeare says, a rose under any 
other name, will smell as sweet, and no doubt this building 
under any name would look as grand. But naming it after 
the largest edifice in the world, and to which it bears no affinity 
either in shape or destination, is doing it a manifest injustice, if 
not a serious injury. 

What associations of ideas, does this name “The Colosseum” 
give rise to ? “ As long as the Colosseum stands,” runs the pro¬ 
verb, “ Rome shall stand, when the Colosseum falls, Rome shall 
fall, and when Rome falls, the world will perish.” “ Quamdiu stabit 
Colosseus, stabat Roma, quando cadet Colosseus, cadet et Roma • 
quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus,” runs the original, which 
is attributed to the Anglo-saxon pilgrims who visited Rome in 
the early part of the eighth century, and is thus versified by a 
modern poet in quoting the historian of the decline and fall of 
the Roman empire, 

“ While stands the Colosseum, Rome shall stand.” 


There can be but one Colosseum, any more than there can be 
but one sun. The building more resembles, and might with 
more justice be placed in contact and cognomen with the Pan- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


71 


theon, but when by a mere name, it is brought to the mind’s 
eye, in competition with that mountain of architecture, 

“ Which in its public shows, unpeopled Rome, 

And held, uncrowded, nations in its womb 

it makes one wish such an inappropriate symbol had never been 
adopted. Why ! the huge blocks of Travertine marble, heaped 
on high by command of Vespasian, outnumber even the nine 
inch bricks of the modern Colosseum. 

Fie upon it, give it some other name, a name per se, and then 
it will stand second to no other edifice in Europe of its sort. In 
some of the newspapers, and in Mr. Britton’s Illustrations of 
the public buildings of London, it is called “ The Coliseum,'” 
deriving it, I presume, from the French Colisee; a language that 
also emasculates the manly Titus Livius into Tite Live , and other 
lingual abominations. 

Now I presume, that the sponsor of Mr. Hornor’s panorama, 
named it “ Colosseum” in allusion to its colossal dimensions, 
either from the Latin Colossus, a statue of enormous magnitude, 
or from the Greek Kolossaion (whence Colosseium or Colosseum) 
an edifice dedicated to, or containing, a colossal statue, as The- 
seium, the temple dedicated to Theseus; Pandroseium, that of 
the nymph Pandrosus; Erectheium, the temple of Eredheus, 
and so on; and careless writers indiscriminately named it the 
Colosseum or Coliseum. 

The interior, as I mentioned before, is being fitted up for 
a panoramic view of London , as seen from the summit of the cross 
of St. Paul’s Cathedral. It has already employed Mr. Hornor, 
the projector, and a host of artists upon the painting, more 
than four years ; it is now rapidly advancing towards comple¬ 
tion, and will, I understand, be opened to the public in the 
course of the next spring. The costliness with which every 
part of it has been executed, is commensurate with the scale of 
the majestic building that contains it, and the importance of 
the subject to be delineated. 

The object of the artist in this gigantic undertaking is to 
present, through the medium of a panoramic painting of un¬ 
paralleled size, and mode of exhibition, a full and accurate re¬ 
presentation of the metropolis and all the surrounding country 
that is visible from the summit of our magnificent cathedral. 


72 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

The preparatory sketches, the most of which I have seen, 
had for several years engaged a considerable portion of Mr. 
Hornor’s attention. They were completed during the summer 
of 1821, from an observatory purposely constructed on the top 
of the scaffolding that was then erected for the construction of 
the new ball and cross, and other repairs of the lantern over 
the cupola of the cathedral, under the direction of Mr. C. R. 
Cockerill, the tasteful architect of St. George’s Chapel, in 
Regent Street; whose veneration for the great architect of the 
building that he was intrusted to renovate, was a sure war¬ 
ranty of his success. 

Dividing the panorama, into four quadrants corresponding 
with the four cardinal points of the mariner’s compass, the first 
or western view commences with the banks of the Thames to¬ 
wards the south, and the picturesque arches of Blackfriars 
bridge. 

The leading features of this portion of the panorama, are the 
beautiful meanderings of the silver Thames, the four great 
bridges that bestride the flood, (that of Waterloo being parti- 
• cularly fine and effective,) the venerable abbey of Westminster, 
the antique hall of Rufus, the distant palaces of Westminster 
and the Parks, which are now undergoing such extensive and 
manifest improvements. The sites and plantations of the spa¬ 
cious squares, and the mansions of the leading streets of the 
western end of the town are predominant beauties. The fore¬ 
ground is finely marked by the two campanile towers of the west 
front of the metropolitan cathedral; and those double triumphs of 
the architective skill and taste of their author, are productive of 
an effect almost approaching to reality, by the value that they 
give to the distance, and the scale which they form to the lineal 
perspective of the streets and houses, between and on each 
side of them. The rear of the pediment, and backs of the 
colossal apostles that decorate the acroteria of the upper order, 
are also productive of singular effect. 

Beyond these, Ludgate Hill traversed by Bridge Street, 
showing the gap by the side of the Norwich Fire Office, the 
western end of the proposed New Street, that I have suggested 
among other improvements to the corporation of London, and 
leading on by Chatham Square over Blackfriars bridge along 
the wide expanse of the Surry Road to the Obelisk, where it is 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


73 


lost in the labyrinth of roads and houses of that mazy neigh¬ 
bourhood. 

The centre part of this quarter of the panorama is occupied 
by a multitudinous mass of buildings, in which are principally 
distinguished the gardens and antique turrets of the temple; 
the spacious squares and plantations of Lincoln’s-inn, Gray’s- 
inn, the Foundling Hospital, and the adjacent pretty modern 
squares in that vicinity. The British Museum, and its sub¬ 
stantial new additions for the library of George the Third, 
which has been most munificently presented to the nation by 
the patriotism of his son George the Fourth, stand also 
predominant in this grand national picture; with a great por¬ 
tion of the new streets of Somers Town, St. Pancras, the site 
of the New London University, and Camden Town, with the 
palace-like workhouse of St. Pancras. 

In the northern portion of this quarter of the view, Newgate 
Street, the three great prisons of the metropolis, the late College 
of Physicians, the churches of St. Sepulchre and of St. Andrew, 
Holborn, and the adjacent neighbourhood, are conspicuous. 

In the southern portion, the principal part of the canvas is 
occupied by a considerable part of Lambeth, extending to 
Vauxhall Gardens. The windings of the river, which here 
forms so fine a feature in any elevated view of our metropolis, 
has additional interest from the distinct view, which is obtained 
from the elevated spot whence Mr. Hornor traced his sketches 
of the fine bridges of Blackfriars, Waterloo, Westminster, and 
Vauxhall. 

The handsome buildings of Somerset Place, and the Adelphi, 
with their lofty terraces, and the succession of noble residences 
between the latter place and Westminster Bridge are next in 
consequence. In this portion of the picture, Westminster 
Hall, the pinnacles, and the east end of St. Stephen’s Chapel, 
the Abbey, Whitehall, the Horse-guards, the Admiralty, and 
numerous other public and private edifices in this opulent 
quarter of the metropolis, form conspicuous and picturesque 
features. 

Further westward, we see the polygonal Penitentiary at Mil- 
bank, with its curious towers, a considerable portion of Chelsea, 
with its noble college, the ranges of new buildings, between 
that low point, and the new palace of Buckingham House, the 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


74 

park—and onwards to the great expanse of the west end of the 
town, to the Regent’s Park, where the colossal cupola of the 
building which contains the picture itself shines conspicuous, 
with its glossy glazed cupola. Primrose Hill, with the new 
reservoir of water for the supply of the park overtops this part 
of the picture; and ranging northward, are the lovely hills, 
crowned with the beautiful villages of Hampstead and High- 
gate, in which almost every house, that can be seen, will be 
found faithfully delineated. In the distant parts of this quarter 
of the picture will be seen many of the prominent features of 
Hertfordshire, Middlesex, and Surry, with the numerous beau¬ 
tiful villas and hamlets that bespangle that range of country. 

Turning, directly opposite to the eastern portion of the pano¬ 
rama, the view commences, with the east end of the choir of 
the cathedral, and the eastern side of the churchyard, where 
the portico and cupola of the new St. Paul’s school forms a 
fine architectural fore-ground. It embraces portions of the 
north and south sides of the church-yard, to which the fine 
balustrades of the church, and the colossal statues on the pedi¬ 
ments of the transepts afford both a fine contrast and a pictur¬ 
esque relief. The New Post Office comes particularly grand, and 
when I tell you that it occupies nearly 300 superficial feet of the 
canvas, you may form some opinion of the colossal dimensions 
of the whole picture. 

The view is then extended down Cheapside, to the centre of 
the commercial part of the city. In this the Mansion House, 
the new fronts of the Bank of England, and the majestic stone 
cupola over the Broker’s Rotunda are eminently conspicuous. 
The Royal Exchange, the numerous spires of the churches that 
embellish this portion of the city, and other public buildings, 
lift up their architectural heads in proud grandeur amidst 
thousands of chimneys and roofs, upon which they seem to 
look down with supreme contempt. 

From these the eye is carried onward to the East India 
House, where a dozen or two of English merchants rule an 
eastern empire, and communicate wealth to two extremities of 
the globe. The ancient turrets of the Tower of London, the 
space now excavating for the intended docks of St. Katherine, 
the Mile End and Commercial Roads, the forests of masts in 
the river, the populous suburbs that surround the great com- 



























































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


75 


merciai docks, the spacious expanse of the Isle of Dogs, Plais- 
tow Marshes, and the high grounds of Essex, to near Graves¬ 
end, fill up a lively portion of the colossal picture. From 
thence the windings of the Thames appear in occasional 
glimpses, progressively to the magnificent and truly Royal 
Hospital of Greenwich, which, with its spacious range of build¬ 
ings and beautiful twin towers, complete the fascinating picture 
in this point of view. 

Tracing the course of the river upwards from Greenwich 
towards the Pool, the view embraces its different reaches, its 
multitudinous masses of shipping and countless masts, and the 
costly establishments that line both banks of the river. On 
the southern side, the elevation of nearly every edifice is dis¬ 
tinctly visible as it presents its front in almost a right angle to 
the eye. 

Toward the south, the view takes in a portion of the Borough, 
nearly the whole of the hamlet of Bermondsey, the high 
grounds and numerous villas of that portion of East Kent, ter¬ 
minating with the beautiful distance of Shooter’s Hill, and the 
well known reminiscent tower of Severndroog Castle on its 
summit. 

Toward the north-east, are seen the ranges of streets that 
lead to Finsbury Square and the City Road ; embellished by 
the new City Circus, with the London Institution in its centre, 
St. Luke’s Hospital and Church, the handsome spire of Shore¬ 
ditch, with the extensive village of Hackney, the hamlets of 
Lower and Upper Clapton and the surrounding neighbourhood, 
on both sides of the extensive and beautiful vale of the river 
Lea, and the fine wooded uplands of Epping Forest, to Havering 
Bower. 

The nearer and more conspicuous portions of this quarter of 
the circle, relates to the great city itself, and give a very faith¬ 
ful representation of the architecture of many of its public 
buildings, with portions of thousands of its well-known houses, 
the lines of its principal streets, and the towers and spires of 
its numerous churches. 

The direct north view, includes the north side of St. Paul’s 
Church-yard, the colossal saints of the north transept, the 
Blue Coat School or Christ’s Hospital, with its magnificent 
new gothic dining hall now building, the spacious hospital of 

M 


76 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


St. Bartholomew, and the misapplied area of Smithfield, with 
its numerous diverging avenues. In the mid-distance are de¬ 
lineated the Charter House and its gardens, the Artillery- 
ground, part of Finsbury Square, Old Street, the City Road, 
the numerous mercantile establishments on the banks of the 
Regent’s Canal and its basins, the greater portion of Clerken- 
well, Cold-bath Fields, a considerable portion of Pentonville, 
Islington, Britannia Fields, the London Field, Hoxton, the two 
mills by the Rosemary-branch, Kingsland Road, Crescent, and 
adjoining fields, Highbury and its commanding terrace, Stoke 
Newington, Stamford Hill, Muswell Hill and Hornsey. The 
extreme distance embraces a part of Epping Forest, with the 
high grounds eastward towards Enfield, and the neighbouring- 
parts of Hertfordshire. 

The south quarter of the circle, commences with the south 
side of St. Paul’s Church-yard, including part of Thames 
Street, St. Andrew’s Hill, Blackfriars’, St. Bennet’s Hill, with 
the college of Doctor’s Commons, and the building formerly 
occupied by the heralds:—all the adjacent churches, among 
which are many of the best of Sir Christopher Wren’s, and 
other public buildings, the Southwark Bridge, the New London 
Bridge and Bankside, from St. Saviour’s Church, along the 
line of warehouses and manufactories to the southern foot of 
Blackfriars’ Bridge. 

The mid-distance of this view includes a considerable part of 
the Borough of Southwark, with the line of Blackfriars’ Road, 
the Greenwich Road, and particularly displays the situation of 
its numerous public buildings from Bethle’m Hospital to the 
Kent Road. The more distant part comprises Kennington, 
South Lambeth, Newington, Camberwell, Peckham, Denmark 
Hill, Hearn Hill, the fine woods of Dulwich, Norwood and a 
great extent of the surrounding country, with its numerous 
villas, parks, paddocks and champaign scenery of the delightful 
county of Surry. 

Thus, this gigantic and unparalleled undertaking will give a 
perfect representation of a continuous scene, from a lofty cen¬ 
tral situation, of a prospect unequalled in extent, variety and 
grandeur, whether considered in regard to those interesting ob¬ 
jects which characterize the great metropolis with its extensive 
port, to the accumulated memorials of architectural splendour 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


77 


of various ages, or to the diversified beauty of the environs, 
and rural residences by which they are surrounded. 

The sketches that Mr. Hornor took, with an apparatus of his 
own construction, by which the most distant and intricate 
scenery may be delineated with mathematical accuracy, com¬ 
prised nearly 300 sheets of large drawing paper, and extended 
over a surface of 1680 superficial feet: a space which will not 
appear suprising, when it is considered that they include a portion 
of almost every public building and dwelling-house in the me¬ 
tropolis, with all the villages, fields, roads, rivers, canals &c. 
that are visible from the summit of the Cathedral, 

It is not exactly correct to describe the operations of an artist 
during his progress, because of the probability of his altering 
his intentions before their completion. But this great under¬ 
taking is so nearly advanced to that desirable stage, that there 
is now but little fear of such an event taking place in its ar¬ 
rangements. 

The mode in which Mr. Hornor proposes to exhibit his pano¬ 
rama, when completed, is novel and ingenious. As the building 
is of great height, more than 150 feet, and different views at 
different heights are to be given, it w r ould be a w r ork of some 
labour to ascend a staircase from the bottom to the top. To 
avoid the necessity for this exertion, the room in which the 
spectators are placed to see the picture, is raised by one effort, 
visiters and all, from the level of the floor of the structure, to 
the first platform or gallery, a height exceeding that of lofty 
four storied houses, such as those of Portland Place. The ma¬ 
chinery by which this elevation is accomplished, is both simple 
and effective. The power employed is that of water, so con¬ 
trived as to proportion its strength to the number of persons 
it has to raise ; as each individual who enters, adds to the power 
by such entrance in passing the door, a force equal to his own 
weight. At a given signal the apartment then rises : the pano¬ 
rama being all the while invisible to the spectator; until at 
length, arriving at the first platform, he stands on what appears 
to be that portion of the cathedral that is called the iron gal¬ 
lery ; with the enormous cupola, the turrets, and all those parts 
of the cathedral which are visible from that position immedi¬ 
ately below him ; and the whole of the metropolis of London, 
with its various great features, the rivers, the bridges, the 


78 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

suburbs Sic. spreading on all sides, and in every direction* 
around him. This is a scene that, looking to the accuracy 
with which all its details are painted, will not merely be highly 
interesting both to Englishmen and foreigners ; but it is also a 
view, which there are few opportunities of witnessing. For the 
prospect from the iron gallery of the cathedral, is so often 
dimmed and obscured by the smoke and vapour which hangs 
over the city, that it is very uncertain when to obtain a clear 
prospect, except at those very early hours in the morning when 
access cannot be had. 

The great size of the picture, added to the number of objects 
contained in it, gives it indeed the appearance of a model on a 
gigantic scale, rather than that of a painted panorama; and 
the first impression that strikes the general spectator is, how 
little he was acquainted with the great outline of the city, in 
which, perhaps, he habitually resides. 

From this first stage, the visiters then proceed by a spiral 
staircase to a second gallery, about thirty feet above the first, 
the ascent to which is so managed that they appear to be 
mounting by a scaffolding erected round the lantern of the 
cathedral, and they actually pass round the ancient ball and 
cross, that was originally erected by Sir Christopher Wren, and 
removed at the recent repairs ; two relics of that period which 
Mr. Hornor has preserved. From this gallery a second view 
of the picture is given ; and still higher up I think there is a 
third ; and from thence winding still higher, the spectator sud¬ 
denly emerges into an extensive gallery, built round the exterior 
of the building, where it is no longer a picture that is before 
him, but a living panorama of the whole circle around him, 
with the Regent’s Park, and the whole of its magnificent im¬ 
provements ; with the hills of Highgate and Hampstead one 
way, and St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey the other. This 
part only forms an exhibition which thousands of persons in 
the metropolis alone, would willingly pay a consideration to 
view. 

The improvements in the park proceed so rapidly, that, I 
purpose, in the spring, taking another tour with you to inspect 
their progress, and as I trust Mr. Hornor’s panorama will then 
be finished, we will make a day for the whole. 

As our long rest before the panorama, has given vigour and 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


79 


excitement to our spirits, let us take a finishing turn along the 
front of Ulster Terrace, up the road opposite to York Gate, by 
Mr. Burton’s villa, make a circuit of the ring, come out oppo¬ 
site Chester Terrace, and conclude our perambulations by an 
inspection of Mr. Soane’s new church at the south-eastern ex¬ 
tremity of the park. 

Park Square, as I have before mentioned, is the improved 
alteration of the originally intended circus, which is not, as 
the celebrated Irish orator, Sir Boyle Roche, observed, “ an 
amendment for the icorse .” The row of houses that adjoins it, 
at the north-western angle, with four bow-windowed houses, is 

Ulster Terrace. 

It iias nothing particularly architecturally striking in its 
composition. The entrance story is of the Ionic order, with 
semicircular headed windows between the columns. The enta¬ 
blature is imperfect, being without a frieze, the upper stories 
are composed of windows with handsome architraves and enta¬ 
blatures by way of dressings, and the whole is surmounted by a 
well-proportioned balustrade. See plate of Ulster Terrace. 

York Terrace looks well with this oblique western sun upon 
its bold projections; and the panoramic turns of the terraces 
beyond, have a splendid variety of gilded lights and broad 
shades, as they alternately present their faces or rears to the 
glorious luminary that is now enlightening our hemisphere. 

Let us hasten over the bridge, or time will press upon us. 
South Villa, the seat of Mr. Cooper, does not present its best 
aspect towards us in this road. It is best seen from the lake, 
as is Mr. Burton’s, which we before examined in every view. 
This on our left, on the northern periphery of “ the ring,” is the 
villa that was designed by Mr. Raffield, for C. A. Tulk, Esq. 
the late member for Sudbury, and now the residence of John 
Maberly, Esq. the member for Abingdon. See plate of Mr. 
Maberlfs villa. 

The house is in the Grecian style of decoration, partaking 
somewhat of the Etruscan. The centre is ornamented by two 
piers, which supports a pediment with acroteria; and include 
between them two pilasters of the Corinthian order. Between 
these, is a large and lofty Palladian window. The wings project 


80 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


a little from the centre, and these are likewise embellished by- 
two large piers, with neat panels, and Grecian honeysuckles in 
the caps. Below the large window is a spacious porch of two 
well-proportioned piers, each supporting a lion. The centre is 
marked by two columns and an entablature of the Pcestum 
Doric, with a string-course substituted for the cornice, and a 
blocking course in unison with those which support the lions. 
A belfry of rather a pretty form, disfigures the design, which, 
otherwise, has animation and variety in every part, and a happy 
accordance between the flanks and the principal front. The 
house, which I have several times been over, previous to Mr. 
Maberley’s occupation, is remarkably well built, by the Messrs. 
Baileys, whose beautiful indurated cement, resembling the 
finest Portland stone, shows off the architect’s tasteful design 
to the greatest advantage. 

Let us now proceed, once more by the portico of the 
Colosseum, pass by the Diorama, through Park Square, and 
finish our morning’s walk by an investigation of Mr. Soane’s 
new church, at the south-eastern angle of the park, on the verge 
of the New Road. The exterior of the Diorama has nothing 
more than the adjoining houses on either side, and its interior 
has nothing in common with any thing else in the metropolis ; nor 
has St. Andrew’s Terrace much more to recommend it, except 
the pretty pavillion-looking building of the Corinthian order at 
the further end, which forms two houses, so contrived as to 
appear like one. Therefore, as the unruly sun has been looking 
upon us with his warmest regards for some hours, suppose we 
enter the cool rotunda of the Diorama, and rest our wearied 
bodies, and refresh our tired eyes, with the artificial beauties 
of Messrs. Bouton and Daguere. 

This delightful exhibition (let us sit down in the hall, while 
the theatre and its audience, like that of Scribonius Curio at 
Rome, is turning from one subject to another, during which 
operation we cannot enter), is a display of architectural 
and landscape scenery, painted in solid, and in transparency, 
arranged and lighted in a peculiar mode, so as to exhibit 
changes of light and shade, and a variety of natural pheno¬ 
mena in a really wonderful manner. The body of the picture 
is painted, on what scene-painters technically term a flat, and 
this main or perpendicular subject is aided by wings or side 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


81 


scenes, by painting on the floor, by raised bodies and by other 
optical and pictorial effects, till the delusion is perfect and almost 
incredible. These paintings are lighted from behind by large 
windows as big as the pictures, and by sky-lights over and in 
front of them; and by the aid of opaque and transparent 
screens and curtains of various colours and degrees of trans¬ 
parency, the various effects of light, shade and gradations of 
colour are produced. 

These pictures, or scenes, are viewed from a very elegant 
circular theatre, with pit, boxes and passages, through an 
opening, decorated by a proscenium. While the opening in the 
theatre is before one picture, the whole body of the audience 
part is slowly moved round by some admirable machinery be¬ 
low, and the spectators, seats, attendants and all, are moved 
imperceptibly round, from the Mary Chapel of Canterbury 
Cathedral to the lake of Lausanne, or from the city of Rouen 
in France, to the interior of Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. The 
elevation next Park Square is from the designs of Mr. IMash, 
and the interior of the theatre from those of Mr. Morgan and 
M. Pugin. 

The theatre has now revolved upon its axis, and one of the 
openings removed to the door in the hall, therefore we may 
enter, and be mystified by the delusions of these eminent 
pictorial enchanters. 

I hope you will admit, that I have not misapplied the epithet 
of enchanters to these artists, and if you are sufficiently rested 
and gratified by your inspection of the Diorama, we will walk 
gently onward towards the new church, which is just com¬ 
pleted on the eastern extremity of the immense parish of St. 
Mary-le-bone. This new church is called the church of the 
Holy Trinity, or for brevity sake, 

Trinity Church. 

This very handsome and well built church is erected by the 
commissioners for building new churches, from the designs and 
under the superintendance of Mr. Soane, the most original and 
painter-like in conception, of modern English architects. 

We have in this building the satisfaction of seeing, almost 
for the first time since the days of Sir Christopher Wren, a 


82 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


steeple not sitting a straddle upon the back of the pediment, 
like the giant Gog, in the Rabbinical fables, riding astride upon 
Noah’s ark during the flood. Mr. Soane has cut this Gordian 
knot of church architecture, rather than unravelled it,* for to 
accomplish his object he has omitted the pediment alto¬ 
gether, instead of giving his tower a base from the earth, like 
the campaniles of Wren and the best Italian architects. How¬ 
ever it is a tasteful reformation of a contemptible practice, to 
which Gibbs in his beautiful blunder of St. Martin’s in the 
fields, and the elder Dance, in his Wren-like imitation of Bow 
church steeple, in the parish of Shoreditch, have given 
currency. 

This church, like its opposite neighbour St. Mary-le-bone 
near York Gate, stands in the unorthodox position of north 
and south, instead of the more general posture of east and 
west; but has its portico in the pleasing and more evidently 
necessary situation of its face to the south, and its altar, or 
principal end, at the north. 

The portico is tetrastyle and Ionic, after one of the chastest 
of the Greek specimens, that of the Temple on the banks of 
the Ilyssus at Athens, and is raised upon a plinth, which is 
level with the floor of the church. The floor of the portico is 
approached by a flight of steps, guarded by a projecting block 
of the same height as the plinth. Under this portico is the 
door which leads to the nave, and on each side of the portico 
is a lofty semicircular headed window, lighting the ailes, and 
divided into two heights by a panelled transom between the 
jambs ; the upper portion lights the galleries and the lower 
portion the pews beneath them. The cornice is continued on 
every side of the building, but the architrave and frieze of the 
entablature, only over the columns of the portico and of the 
flanks. The frieze is sculptured with the formal Greek fret, 
which is by no means so graceful or so elegant as the foliated' 
scroll and intervening honeysuckle of the same school. The 
flanks have projecting sub-porticoes of six half-columns in antis, 
corresponding in height and proportion with the portico-in¬ 
chief ; and windows of a similar height and width, and similarly 
divided into two heights, fill up the intercolumniations. The 
whole is surmounted by a parapet composed of a balustrade with 
piers raised upon a well-proportioned blocking-course, breaking 



Published TSTov. 22 ,1828."by Jones & C°Temple of the Muses, Hushury Square, London. 























































































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' 







METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


83 


with the entablature over each portico. These side sub-porticoes 
are both original and pleasing, and the long windows, divided be¬ 
tween the frames instead of two stories of windows, or the 
galleries seen through the glass, are equally novel and effective. 
The lower story of the tower, or rather belfry story, has two 
projecting columns on each face, with entablatures breaking 
every way over them, of the Tivoli-Corinthian order, which at 
this height has a remarkably bold and pleasing effect. The 
blocking-course over each column, is finished by a very beauti¬ 
ful cinerary urn, or pyramidal sarcophagus, which form pleasing 
finials, and carry the eye with good effect, to the circular story 
which surmounts it and fill up the angles of the square. 

This upper story is a peristyle of six columns of the com¬ 
posed order used in the portico to the octagon temple of An- 
dronicus Cyrrhestes, commonly called the temple of the 
eight winds at Athens. The capitals of this order are too 
minute and ineffective for the height in which they are placed 
in this steeple, and are very inferior to those of one row of 
very bold leaves, and large volutes, which are used by Wren, 
in the tambour of the cupola of St. Paul’s. These upper 
columns are supported on a circular stylobate, which gives 
elevation to the edifice, and are surmounted by a semi-elliptical 
cupola of rather lofty proportions, that carries the vane. 

Since the days of Gibbs and Wren, I consider this steeple, 
belfry, or whatever it may be called, as the fashion of the 
day, or the will of the commissioners, insist on the perpetration 
of such horrors on the roofs of modern churches, to be the best, 
always excepting that of Shoreditch. The omission of the 
pediment gives some approach to the solid tower, emanating 
from the ground, and surmounted by the steeple, that was 
the invariable practice of Wren and the best Italian ar¬ 
chitects. 

If the worthy professor of architecture in the Royal Aca¬ 
demy were now with us, I would ask him, consideung that he 
was not bound to an east and west longitude, whethei he might 
not have made his Ionic portico, being either tetrastyle to the 
nave as at present, or hexastyle, embracing at once the nave 
and the aisles, complete with a pediment; and instead of 
placing his beautiful belfry a cock-horse on its apex, have 
erected it on a square unornamented tower, the lower part of 

N 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

which would have served for a sacristy or vestry room, at the 
north end; giving it, that is the plain square tower, a greater 
height to allow for the distance ? 

A student should not dictate to his professor, but he may 

ask respectful questions. 

Now, my good sirs, we have finished our perambulation of 
the Regent’s Park, but hope that more villas may yet recall 
our steps, as there is certainly no place in the whole metropolis 
so completely fitted for the rus in urbe as this beautiful spot. 

Before finishing our walk, I cannot conclude without reading 
to you a sketch of this delightful place, written by Mr. Charles 
Ollier, one of the proprietors and editors of the Literary Pocket 
Book for 1823, which is often my pocket companion in literary 
excursions. 

“ When we first saw,” he begins, and I well remember hav¬ 
ing a similar feeling, although my professional propensities lead 
me to think lightly of the destruction of fair fields for formal 
buildings, “ that the Mary-le-bone fields were enclosed, and that 
the hedge-row walks which twined through them were gradu¬ 
ally being obliterated, and the whole district artificially laid 
out, (there is nothing more wretched than the first process of 
planting and making roads), we underwent a painful feeling or 
two, and heartily deplored the destructive advances of what 
generally goes by the name of improvement. Old recollections 
—recollections of youth, upon which we love to dwell as 
we advance into the shadowed part of our life’s road, are re¬ 
morselessly stricken aside by this change in pleasant localities ; 
we almost mourn over the loss of the old trees and paths which 
stood as quiet mementos of the cheerful rambles of our boyish 
days, or, it may be, of love-hallowed walks and looks, and 
tender words first ventured under the influence of the fields 
and the comparative retirement. Nothing makes the lover 
bold and the mistress tender, so well as the fresh and fragrant 
air, the green herbage, the quiet and the privacy of country 
spots, which, when near towns, are more exciting by the 
contrast. 

“ A few years, however, have elapsed, and we are not only re¬ 
conciled to the change alluded to, but rejoice in it. A noble 
park is rapidly rising up, if we may use such an expression, and 
a vast space, close by the metropolis, not only preserved from 


METROPOLITAN IMP ROVEMENTS. 


85 


the encroachment of mean buildings, but laid out with groves, 
lakes, and villas, with their separate pleasure grounds, while 
tnrough the whole place there is a winding road,” (see the en¬ 
graved plan oj the Regent’s Park) “ which commands at every 
turn some fresh features of an extensive country prospect. 

“ This is indeed a desirable appendage to so vast a town 
as London, more especially as the rage for building fills every 
pleasant outlet with bricks, mortar, rubbish and eternal scaffold- 
poles, which, whether you walk east, west, north, or south, 
seem to be running after you. We heard a gentleman say, the 
ether day, that he was sure a resident in the suburbs could 
scarcely lie down after dinner, and take a nap, without finding, 
when he awoke, that a new row of buildings had started up 
since he closed his eyes. It is certainly astonishing: one 
would think that builders used magic, or steam at least, and 
it would be curious to ask those gentlemen in what part of the 
neighbouring counties they intended London should end. Not 
content with separate streets, squares, and rows, they are ac¬ 
tually the founders of new towns, which in the space of a few 
months, become finished and inhabited. The precincts of 
London have more the appearance of a newly discovered colony, 
than the suburbs of an ancient city. For instance : in what a 
very short time back were the Bayswater, fields there is now 
a populous district, called by the inhabitants, ‘ Moscowand 
at the foot of Primrose Hill, we are amazed by coming upon a 
large complication of streets, &c. under the name of ‘ Portland 
Town.’ The rustic and primeval meadows of Kilburn are also 
filling with new buildings and incipient roads; to say nothing 
of the charming neighbourhood of bt. John’s Wood harm, and 
other spots nearer town. 

u The noble appropriation of the district of which we are now 
speaking, is not so much a change as a restoration. It was 
formerly a park, and had a royal palace in it, wheie, we believe, 
Queen Elizabeth occasionally resided. It was disparked by 
Oliver Cromwell, who settled it on Colonel Uiomas Harrison s 
regiment of dragoons for their pay; but, at the lestoration of 
Charles II. it passed into the hands of other possessors, till, at 
length, it has reverted to the crown, by whose public spirit a 
magnificent park is secured to the inhabitants of London. The 
expense of its planting, See. must have been enormous, but 


86 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


money cannot be better laid out than on purposes of this lasting 
benefit and national ornament. 

“ The plan and size of the park, is in every respect worthy 
of the nation. It is larger than Hyde Park, St. James’s Park, 
and the Green Park together.’’ Here my friend of the Literary 
Pocket Book is in error, for Hyde Park, even since its robbery 
of part of its fair proportions by Kensington Gardens, contains 
395 acres, St. James’s and the Green Park together, at least as 
many, and the Regent’s. Park only about 450 acres, exceeding 
little more than 50 acres Hyde Park alone. But, to proceed : 
“ And the trees planted in it about ten years ago are already 
becoming umbrageous. The water is very extensive. As you 
are rowed on it, the variety of views you come upon is admira¬ 
ble ; sometimes you are in a narrow stream, closely overhung by 
the branches of trees ; presently you open upon a wide sheet of 
water, like a lake, with swans sunning themselves on its bosom ; 
by and bye your boat floats near the edge of a smooth lawn 
fronting one of the villas; and then again you catch the per¬ 
spective of a range of superb edifices, the elevation of which is 
contrived to have the effect of one palace. The park, in fact, 
is to be belted with groups of these mansions, entirely excluding 
all sights of the streets. One of them is indeed finished (it is 
now five years since this was written), “ and gives a satisfactory 
earnest of the splendid spirit in which the whole is to be accom¬ 
plished. There will be nothing like it in Europe. The villas in the 
interior of the park are planted out from the view of each other, 
so that the inhabitant of each seems, in his own prospect, to be 
the sole lord of the surrounding scenery. 

i the centre of the park, there is a circular plantation of 
immense cncumfeience, and in the interior of this you are in a 
perfect Arcadia. The mind cannot conceive any thing more 
hushed, more sylvan, more entirely removed from the slightest 
evidence of proximity to a town. Nothing is audible there, 
except the songs of birds and the rustling of leaves. Kensington 

Gaidens, beautiful as they are, have no seclusion so perfect as 
this. 

“ We cannot recommend a better thing to such of our readers 
as have leisure, than a day spent in wandering amidst the union 

of stately objects and rural beauty which constitute the charm 
of Mary-le-bonc Park.” 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


87 


Thus endeth our friend of “ the Literary Pocket Book/’ and 
so endeth our perambulation round the Regent’s Park. 

Our next excursion shall be, from this interesting spot, through 
Regent Street to Westminster ; and till then, gentlemen, adieu. 


88 


CHAP. III. 


“ A Realm gaineth more by one year’s peace, than by ten year’s war.” 

Lord Burleigh. 


“ Variety and intricacy, is a beauty and excellence in every other of the arts which 
address the imagination ; and why not in architecture ?” 

Sir Joshua Reynolds. 


PARK SQUARE, FROM THE NEW ROAD-ITS PLANTATION AND PLEASURE GROUND 

-STATUE OF THE DUKE OF KENT-CLASSIFICATION OF STATUES-PARK CRES¬ 
CENT— PORTLAND PLACE-LANGHAM TLACE-SIR JAMES LANGHAm’s MANSION 

-THE LATE MR. JAMES WYATt’s MANSION-ALL SOULS CHURCH-REGENT 

STREET-THE CIRCUS, OXFORD STREET—ST. GEORGE’S CHAPEL, REGENT STREET 

-WALK DOWN REGENT STREET-THE HARMONIC INSTITUTION-THE PALACE¬ 
LIKE ROWS OF SHOPS-BUILDINGS, THOSE BY MR. SOANE, MR. NASH, MR. 

ABRAHAM AND OTHER ARCHITECTS-THE QUADRANT-THE CIRCUS, PICCA¬ 

DILLY'—mr. edwards’s mansion—mr. nash’s gallery and mansion— 

UNITED SERVICE CLUB-HOUSE-WATERLOO PLACE-THE NEW BUILDINGS NOW 

IN PROGRESS ON THE SITE OF CARLTON HOUSE-REMINISCENCE OF THE VIEW 

OF THAT PALACE AND ITS ARCIIITECURAL SCREEN FROM REGENT STREET. 


The morning is again auspicious to our task, which I purpose 
beginning, where we left off yesterday ; namely, at 

Park Square. 

On this spot it was originally intended to have completed the 
crescent opposite, into a circus, which would have been the 
largest circle of buildings in Europe. The foundations of the 
western quadrant of it were even laid, and the arches for the 
coal-cellars turned. For some reasons, however, this plan was 
abandoned, and the entire chord of the semicircle left open to 
the park, instead of being closed in by the intended half circus. 
This alteration is a manifest improvement of the entire design, 
and is productive of great benefit to the houses in the crescent 
and in Portland Place. Park Square is erected in its stead, 
and consists of two rows of houses, elongated upon the extre¬ 
mities of the crescent, and separated from the New Hoad, from 
the park, and from each other, by a spacious quadrangular area, 



METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 89 

laid out with planted pleasure grounds, and enclosed by hand¬ 
some ornamental iron railings. 

Having the use of a key for the day, we will, as we are early, 
take a stroll among its meandering walks, and enjoy ourselves 
among its ambrosial shrubs, its natural symmetry and its trim 
beauty; for in an enclosed garden in the neighbourhood of 
buildings or other works of art, neatness, symmetry and trim¬ 
ness, approaching to elegance, are the characters that should 
be sought after by the landscape or artist gardener. How re¬ 
freshingly cool and soft the velvet turf of this smoothly shaven 
lawn is to the feet, after coming from the arid hardness of the 
gravelled road; and how delightful to the senses are the fra- 
grancy of those gay flowers, the symmetry of those beauteous 
dwarf shrubs, and the artfulness of those serpentine walks. I 
am not partial to the wild, or what Gilpin calls the natural or 
picturesque manner in the domestic garden ; but would rather 
with Milton, 

u Add to these, retired leisure. 

That in trim gardens takes his pleasure.” 


This smoothness, this dressed gaiety offends against the laws 
of the picturesque or Gilpin school. A master in this school, 
would turn the velvet lawn into a piece of broken ground, 
would plant rugged scrubby oaks instead of flowering shrubs, 
would break the edges of these walks, would give them the 
roughness of a new made road, would corrugate them with ruts, 
would defile the beauty of its whole face by stones and brush¬ 
wood, and by making all rough and dirty, where all is now fair 
and smooth, would create what in his vocabulary he would call 
the picturesque. 

So would he act by a gorgeous piece of architecture, if it 
were as perfect as the pencil of Callicrates, or the chisel of 
Phidias could make it. Let the proportion of its parts, the 
propriety of its ornaments, and the symmetry of the whole, be 
as exquisite, as ever bore the impress of the mint of genius ; in 
his eye it is formal, and does not please his picturesque imagi¬ 
nation. Therefore, to give it the finishing touch, the master 
mark of currency among the people of picturesquiescity, he 
would take the mallett instead of the chisel, would beat down 
one half of its splendid beauties and throw the mutilated mem- 


90 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

bers around the rest in heaps, and call exultingly aloud, “ be¬ 
hold my work!” No painter, he would say, could hesitate a 
moment which to choose. The Parthenon in all its glories, 
during the splendid era of Pericles, a name deservedly dear to 
every lover of the fine arts, would be inferior in his eyes, to the 
same fine structure in its demolished state, when blown to 
ruins by the bomb-shells of the barbarian Koenigmarck, and 
the villainous gunpowder of the still greater barbarians of 
Turks, who desecrated it into a magazine of warlike combus¬ 
tibles. 

The rude and undefined masses of the overthrown temples 
of Agrigentum, would please his eye more than all the majesty 
of the Roman Forum in complete perfection. He would not 
sing with Cowper, 

u Alas for Sicily ! rude fragrants now 

Lie scatter’d, where the shapely columns stood. 

Her palaces are dust”— 


but would rather rejoice, if some tasteful-minded earthquake 
would topple down St. Paul’s Cathedral into a more picturesque 
object, than its finely proportioned columns, and ample cupola 
built in the form of heaven, now presents to his dilapidating 
eye. 

Let us pass, beneath these 

- u Shades, 

And walks beneath, and alleys brown,” 

under the New Road into the semicircular gardens of Park 
Crescent. 

The statue before us is erected by public subscription to the 
memory of the late Duke of Kent, a prince of great public spirit, 
who at the time of his lamented death, was fast working himself 
into the good graces of his countrymen, and rapidly winning the 
golden opinions of men. It is executed in bronze by Gahagan, 
and elevated on a granite pedestal. The Royal Duke is represented 
in a standing posture, dressed in a field marshall’s uniform, over 
which the artist has cast drapery, of his robes and collar of the 
order of the garter. The attitude is simple and unaffected, and 
with the bust is very like the royal personage that it represents. 




Putflasliea. Nov. 1, 1828.1)7 Jones k C°Temple of the 'Muses.RneVury Square London 






























































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


91 


The figure is heroic, that is, between the natural and colossal 
sizes, being seven feet two inches in height. Its weight of 
metal is, I understand, about two tons. 

This statue of his majesty’s lamented brother, is in a manly 
energetic style; but coarse in execution, and vulgar in concep¬ 
tion. As a likeness of a duke, and as an imitation of a British 
general, of royal rank, there is but little fault to find. As a 
figure in modern costume it is vastly superior to that of another 
royal duke (Cumberland) in Cavendish Square ; but inferior to 
Flaxman’s Lord Howe, in Westminster Abbey. “ Imitation is 
the means,” says Sir Joshua Reynolds, “ not the end of art; it is 
employed by the sculptor as the language by which his ideas 
are presented to the mind of the spectator. Poetry and elocu¬ 
tion of every sort make use of signs, but those signs are arbi¬ 
trary and conventional. The sculptor employs the representa¬ 
tion of the thing itself; but still as a means to a higher end— 
as a gradual ascent always advancing towards faultless form 
and perfect beauty.” The essence of sculpture is correctness, 
and thus far the artist of this statue has accomplished his pur¬ 
pose ; but we look in vain for dignity of character in this mere 
portrait of the royal duke. 

Mr. Gahagan has done well however in abandoning the lorica 
and thoraca of the Roman school, and has arranged the military 
costume of the day with becoming effect. The ducal robe 
supplies the place of the imperial paludamentum, with appro¬ 
priateness, and he has arranged it with skill. 

The sculptor’s art, in the present day, is both a limited and a 
difficult one ; for it will be in vain for him to hope to surpass 
the splendid relics of Grecian art, that have reached our times. 
The painter on the contrary has a wider field, and his ancient 
rivals Zeuxis, Parrhasius and Apelles, live but in the histo¬ 
rian’s volume. The Apollo, the Venus, the Laocbon and the 
Phidian marbles of the Parthenon remain as proof of the per¬ 
fection to which the genius of the ancients brought this science 
of abstract form. 

As we are upon the subject of drapery,—the Greeks seldom 
used it in their sculpture, and the Romans almost always ; yet 
did the Greeks surpass the Romans, even in this department 
of the art. So completely was the naked statue reckoned of 
Greek workmanship, that Pliny (book xxxiv. chap. 5.) says the 


92 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

Romans called all the unclothed male statues, Achillean statues, 
on account of the number of statues of which they had of that 
Grecian hero armed only with his javelin. 

The Romans named their draped military statues after the 
name of the costume in which they were clothed ; and the 
statues belonging to persons of the civil class from the order of 
vestments in which they were arrayed. They also named them 
Equestrian, Pedestrian or Curuled, as they were either on 
horseback, on foot, or seated in the Curule chair. 

Thus might we form a classification of modern statues, and, 
while we repose in this delightful alcove, I will try my hand. 

The statue of Charles the First at Charing Cross, we would 
call Equestrian as to its class, and royal as to its order. That 
now before us is Pedestrian, and royal. That of his Grace of 
Bedford, in Russell Square, Pedestrian, ducal from his robes, 
and agricultural from its attributes and accessories. Charles 
Fox at the other end of Bedford Place, Curuled and Sena¬ 
torial!. The grand portrait of Lord Mansfield, by Flaxman, 
in Westminster Abbey, Curuled in class and Judicial in order. 
But this is not the way to go through our purposed survey of 
the new buildings of the metropolis, in which I promised to 
accompany you. Therefore, I must leave it to your future 
leisure to complete my classification of modern statuary. 

Now let us pass round one side of Park Crescent, and, as 
the sun is darting his hottest beams upon us, the eastern 
quadrant will be the more shady of the two. The great size 
of this semicircle of mansions is more imposing in effect than 
the details are choice in selection, which is the prevailing vice 
of Mr. Nash’s style. He comprehends a whole, he grasps the 
extremities, he achieves variety—that variety and intricacy 
which the accomplished Sir Joshua Reynolds considered as a 
beauty and excellence worthy of being adopted into architec¬ 
ture : but he sees not the detail, he either neglects it or despises 
it, and certainly does not look at his art with a microscopic eye. 
He does not finish in architecture like Denner or the Dutch 
masters in painting ; but to pursue the analogy, designs like 
a painter in fresco, and thinks with Michael Angiolo, that 
a finished or exquisite detail in architecture is like oil 
painting in the sister art, fit employment only for women and 
children. 


METROPOLI TAN IM PRO V EMENTS. 


93 


This end of Portland Place is also by Mr. Nash, who has 
joined his broad style to the finicking finish of the Messrs. 
Adams, with good effect. No antipodes can be more opposite 
than the styles of these masters, and yet there is somewhat of 
resemblance. Both are fond of decoration, and both lay it on 
with profusion ; but the former does not bedizen his exteriors with 
confectionary so much as the latter, and his style is more bold, 
ft is also more pure, as approaching nearer to the Palladian 
and ancient Roman, while that of the latter is of the de¬ 
praved school of the middle and lower empire. The palace of 
Diocletian, at Spalatro, is the Magnus Apollo of the Adams’s, 
as their buildings about the Adelphi, and the centre part of 
Portland Place, which we are now approaching, are striking- 
proofs. Many of their works, however, are of a more chaste 
and manly character, as the front of the Duke of Bedford’s 
house, in St. James’s Square, the house of the Society for the 
Encouragement of Arts, See. in the Adelphi ; the office of the 
Amicable Society in Serjeants’ Inn ; the street front of Draper’s 
Hall, in Throgmorton Street, and a few others of the same 
character, whose names I do not at present remember. Nash 
also aims at more variety and intricacy of form than the 
Adams’s, and has obtained more general beauty ; but has been as 
unsuccessful in the purity of his detail, as the united brethren 
though from a different cause—he, from overlooking it, they 
from a bad taste, derived from the Roman school of Spalatro. 

Portland Place , from its size and the consequence of its 
houses, is one of the most spacious and magnificent streets in 
the metropolis, and, in its day, was one of the most architectural 
that had been erected. Moreover, the novelty of the style, the 
great width of the street, which is 125 feet in breadth, pro¬ 
duced, when drst erected, a striking effect. The style of its 
architecture, however, is feeble and effeminate, and is rendered 
tame by the bolder executions of more modern architects, w 7 ith 
which it is surrounded. 

It extends from Park Crescent on the north, to Langham 
Place on the south, where it was terminated in Adams’s days, 
by Foley House, which has been taken down for Mr. Nash’s 
improvements. The houses are lofty, elegant, and well suited 

* So they called themselves in that fraternal union of their talents “ the Adelphi.’’ 


94 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


for the more opulent classes of the community, but are, as you 
may perceive, deficient in boldness and relief. 

This isolated mansion on our left, which stands so far behind 
the others, was the dwelling of that very distinguished orna¬ 
ment of our profession, the late James Wyatt, who designed 
and built it for himself. The front which now faces Portland 
Place, was in his time the rear or back front, and looked into 
the gardens of Foley House, and that which looks up Foley 
Place, to the eastward, was the principal front. This accounts 
for the plainness of the elevation, which has had, since the 
death of its able original proprietor, a Doric portico added to 
the centre door, by way of some distinction, and also to serve 
as an occasional entrance from Portland and Langham Places, 
for it stands on neutral ground between the two. 

The front next Foley Place, is well worth looking at, not 
only as being the work of one of our most tasteful and original 
architects, but from its own intrinsic beauties. It is also me¬ 
morable, as being one of the first architectural fronts that was 
covered with the stucco, first introduced into this country by 
Mr. Wyatt, and known by the name of Homan cement. It is 
superior in every way to the oil cement of Adams, which has 
perished to the core, while the induration of Mr. Wyatt’s is 
perfect to this hour, and appears likely to equal that of the 
finest stone. 

Let us walk round by the new church, and take a survey of 
this very elegant fagade, which is nearly lost to the eye of taste, 
by the d'irt with which it is covered. 

It consists of a centre, and two pretty pavilion-like wings, 
which are decorated with elegant bassi rilievi, and give value, 
as the painters call it, to the receding front which stands within 
them. The principal, or entrance story, has three spacious 
openings covered with segmental arches ; the centre of which 
is occupied by a classically designed door of beautiful propor¬ 
tions, and the side apertures with Venetian windows. The 
spaces between the chord and circumference of the arches, are 
decorated with delicate sculptures after the antique. 

The drawing-room and chamber stories, are embellished with 
pilasters or ante of a Corinthian order, selected from the portico 
at Athens, the horns of whose abacus, contrary to those of 
every other example, come to points instead of being cut off. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. qr, 

1 he whole is surmounted by a handsome entablature, blocking- 
course, and balustrade. 

For elegance of detail, for harmony of proportion, for good 
taste, and a chaste suavity of domestic propriety, considering 
its size, this handsome house is not surpassed by any in the 
metropolis. It is now the residence of Colonel Mark Wilks, 
ot Kirby, in the Isle of Man, who was governor of the island 
ot St. Helena, before it was occupied by the commissioners for 
the detention of the Emperor Napoleon. 

We must return into Portland Place for a few minutes. The 
house, that almost immediately adjoins this of Colonel Wilks, 
with the cupola, balustrade, and Corinthian pilasters of Palladian 
character, is the residence of Sir Anthony Carlisle, the late 
professor of anatomy of the Royal Academy. It composes 
well with the adjoining mansions and small plantations, and 
although petite in style, from the want of height in the stories, 
forms a pretty picturesque accessory to the groupe. 

The island of houses that stands between Sir Anthony’s 
pavilion and the church, is by Mr. Nash, and in his prevailing 
style ; as are those opposite, which, however, are of better pro¬ 
portions. This is Langham Place, named after Sir James 
Langham, the worthy baronet who occupies the villa-looking 
mansion and pleasure grounds at the bottom ; Langham House 
is also by Mr. Nash, and is a very good example of his best 
style ; varied, architectural, and well relieved by appropriate 
breaks and projections. It carries upon its face, good sense, 
sound taste, and appropriate character. It is a city or rather 
a town villa, and not a street mansion, built with a front and 
no sides, as if waiting for its next door neighbour to be built 
against its party walls. Whereas, this has side as well as front 
elevations, stands as if meant to stand, detached with cornices 
and architectural ornaments and openings on every side, bidding 
as it were, all loving buildings to keep their distances, and 
nothing to approach but living creatures and beauteous shrubs. 
It looks as if the original design was drawn at once in perspec¬ 
tive, and the front and flanks designed together with the pencil 
of an artist, and that the drawing board and formal geometrical 
elevation had nothing to do with its composition. This is the 
variety, combination and composition that distinguishes the 
artist from the artisan. 


96 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


The view from this tasteful Falladian villa, up Portland 
Place, is strikingly grand and effective. The vista is one of 
the finest in this fine part of the metropolis, finished as it is, by 
the paradisiacal views of the park. It is an inclined plane of 
architectural beauty, rising from the spot whence we are viewing 
it, to a climax of scenic perfection, in the distance, that cannot 
be parallelled in Europe ; whether we consider the wealth that 
it embodies, the salubrity of the site which surrounds it, or the 
optical beauty which results from this charming combination of 
architecture, sculpture and landscape gardening. 

The season of the year too, adds to the beauty of the passing 
scene. It is now the middle of the London season, the town is 
resplendently full, the weather as splendidly gay and exhilirating, 
the inhabitants all life and bustle, and the circumstance of the 
last drawing room for the season being held to day, makes this 
opulent and fashionable quarter of the town as lively as an 
ant-hill. Every equipage is bearing towards Regent Street, in 
its way to the palace. 

This splendid carriage, with the armed hey-duke behind it, 
coming out of Duchess Street, is Prince Esterhazy’s, which 
contains diamonds enough to purchase a manor. The crowd 
now surrounding the carriages and front of the house on the 
left, just above Weymouth Street, are waiting to see the 
splendid cortege of the Prince de Polignac the French Ambas¬ 
sador, who is going to pay the respects of his royal master 
Charles X. to our justly popular sovereign. The Spanish 
Ambassador on the opposite side, and the newly acknowledged 
Colombian minister, Count Hurtad, his neighbour, are also pre¬ 
paring to join in the same gratifying ceremony. 

1 say, gratifying, when I reflect upon the different feelings- 
that actuated our public men, during the last desolating and 
expensive war, when rivalry in bloodshed and horrors devas¬ 
tated the finest countries in Europe ; and now, when our greatest 
rivalries are in the arts of peace, in commerce, in literature, in 
the fine arts, in science, in all the elegancies that adorn and 
support human nature. In these instances all parties are the 
gainers, for even the unsuccessful for the paramount prize, reap 
a profit, whilst, in war, the very conquerors are awful losers. 

Now let us cross over to the portico of the south-eastern 
building of Langham Place, and take a look, at the singular 


METROPOLITA N IMPROVEMENTS. 


97 

originality of All Soul’s Church. Stay ! our station here, if the 
carriages of the noble ambassadors do not rout us from our 
post, is one of the best. The portico and wing of that house, 
with the hatchment over it, bring an agreeable contrast to the 
church, and with the superb coach manufactory of Messrs. 
Marks, in the distance, form an architectural picture of no 
small beauty. See the print of All Soul’s Church , Langham 
Place. 

The circular perystyle of the whimsical Ionic portico, the 
capitals of which are composed of winged cherubim, whose 
heads peer between the volutes with which their wings are 
intermingling, like owls displayed on the posts of a Dutch 
barn, have a very good and very original effect from the situa¬ 
tion where we now stand. The circular tower within it, that 
pierces the soffit of the portico, is solid and effective, and where 
it rises above the balustrade that crowns the cornice, into a cir¬ 
cular stylobate to the Corinthian Peripteral temple that forms 
the bell-tower, it is really productive of beauty, in form and 
proportion. Nor am I disposed, now my eye has become some¬ 
what used to the daring novelty, to object to the gothic innova¬ 
tion of the impaling spire, with its sharpened iron apex, placed 
as a finial to the Daedalian beauty of the campanile, as some 
have done, who with more of wit than love for originality, have 
compared it to a flat candlestick surmounted by a thick candle, 
and a little non-fit extinguisher upon its top. 

Elegancies, like the steeples of Bow and of St. Bride’s, 
would cloy, if stuck over every church and chapel in the me¬ 
tropolis, and to omit all the credit due to Mr. Nash fo-r his 
bold originality in this singular tower and spire, would be un¬ 
fair, for it really possesses much intrinsic beauty of form, and is 
no mean ornament to the neighbourhood. 

The manufactory of Messrs. Marks and Son beyond it, would 
have been admired, even for a mansion, in the plain times of the 
Portman Square architects, but is now lost among the archi¬ 
tectural beauties of the new metropolis in the nineteenth cen¬ 
tury. 

The architectural fagade to the fronts of the row of stable- 
offices fronting the coach-maker’s is a skilful contrivance to 
conceal an obvious defect, and is highly creditable to the skill 
of the architect, as well as an architectural embellishment to 


()8 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

the neighbourhood. The little continuous portico of the Doric 
order, appended to the front of the dead wall, is a happy 
thought, and produces one of these pretty accidental effects 
that an original design often wants. 

There is also much novelty and picturesque effect, in the 
otherwise clumsy piers and sepulchral arches of the east en¬ 
trance story to the houses between this part and Margaret 
Street; and the depth of their recesses afford a solid base for 
the superstructure of the elevation. 

Here we approach the commercial portions of the street; and 
in no part of Mr. Nash’s style is he more happy than in the 
adaptation of his means to his end. The style of architecture 
now assumes a different appearance. The portion we have just 
left, as forming the isthmus between wealth and commerce, is 
composed of smaller houses, which can be let at smaller rents 
than either those of the continent of fashion that we are 
leaving, or those of the great peninsula of commerce that we 
are approaching. They are also of that dual character that 
partakes both of the shop and the private house, and can be 
used for either as circumstances require. 

Now, there is nothing doubtful in style; wide handsome 
fronts, calculated for broad showy shop-windows, wherein goods 
and manufactured articles of the most splendid description, 
such as the neighbouring world of wealth and fashion are in 
daily want of, may be displayed to the greatest advantage; and 
wide private doors for entrance to the handsome upper apart¬ 
ments, for letting as furnished lodgings to the temporary visiters 
of the metropolis, are the prevailing characters. 

These spots were let to the original builders at heavy ground- 
rents, and consequently the rents of the houses are proportionably 
high, and nothing but the costliness of the articles, and the great 
quantity of them which are sold, could enable the shop-keepers 
and tradesmen to pay them and procure a living profit. The 
rivalry of many persons of the same occupations prevent ex¬ 
tortion, and keep the goods sold in this splendid mart of retail 
trade at moderate prices. 

The architecture of the shops is various, and sufficiently 
whimsical in places to please the demon of fashion ; but it 
can be changed as the fashion of the day, or the character of 
the goods to be displayed within them require: the fronts 
being supported on slendei iron columns within them. 



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METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


99 

The style of the elevations above the cornices of the shops, is 
of the varied character of the Italian school, and of course is 
highly picturesque; and the domestic arrangements of the 
dwelling houses are remarkably well adapted to the architec¬ 
tural facades of the exterior. This is indeed a portion of our 
art in which Mr. Nash eminently excels, and which has rendered 
his majestic design of Regent Street so much the admiration of 
strangers and intelligent foreigners. For, as Waller sweetly 
sunof. 


“ Glad, though amazed, are our neighbour kings, 
To see such power employed in peaceful things, 
They list not urge it to the dreadful field ; 

The task is easier to destroy than build.” 


The circus which unites, or rather amalgamates Regent 
Street with Oxford Street, is of a continuous style of archi¬ 
tecture with the houses above it; and its form, which takes oft’ 
the intersectional angles, is one of the best that can be devised 
for the purpose. It gives an air of grandeur and of space to 
the streets, and a free circulation of air to the houses. It 
affords facilities to carriages and horsemen in turning from one 
street to the other, and is as elegant in form as it is useful in 
application. 

The building on the opposite side of the street, with two 
turrets and a cupola, just below Princes Street, is the chapel of 
St. George, a tasteful production of Mr. C. R. Cockerell, whose 
travels and researches in Greece have added much to our know¬ 
ledge of the sublime architecture of the ancient Greeks. 

As Mr. Cockerell is so classical an architect, he need not 
fear severity of criticism upon his designs, therefore if you please 
we will walk over to Welch and Hawes’s musical repository, and 
inspect it leisurely from the northernmost window of their 
saloon. 

In the composition of this church, Mr. Cockerell had that 
gem of Sir Christopher Wren’s, the interior of St. Stephen, 
Walbrook, in his mind’s eye ; and as the only difference that 
ever arose between the tasteful architect of the building before 
us and myself, was which of us bore the greatest veneration 
for the memory of Sir Christopher, we shall most likely not differ 
much as to an application of some of the intricacy and variety 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


100 

of the school of Wren, to the severe simplicity ol the architec¬ 
ture of ancient Greece. 

The building is of that order of ancient temples which we 
call prostyle, that is, having columns only in the front ; and is 
the second order of sacred buildings, according to Vitruvius. 
It is of the Ionic order of columns, and has a portico to the 
nave, and wings with cubical turrets to the aisles. See the print 
of St. George’s Chapel , Regent Street. 

The portico is tetrastyle, with columns of that species of the 
Ionic order, that was used by the ancient Greeks in the temple 
of Minerva Polias, at Priene, a city of Ionia, near Miletus. 
Behind the two outer columns are antse of elegant proportions, 
flanking a receding pronaos or porch which contains the en¬ 
trance doorway. This is of antique form, and of just propor¬ 
tions. The portico is covered with a pediment of an extremely 
elegant and antique form, surmounted by acroteria, which how¬ 
ever, at present, support nothing. 

The wings are composed of two antse, one of which supports 
the epistylium or architrave of the portico, and the other forms 
the extremity of the building between the front and flank. 
The entablature is carried through the whole composition, 
breaking over both portico and flanks. The architrave has three 
faces, as in the original example; the frieze is plain, the cornice 
is decorated with dentels in the bed mould, and with lion’s 
heads after the antique in the cymatium. 

I know not what the district surveyor would say to Mr. 
Cockerell, if his lion’s heads were spouts to carry the water 
from the roof after the Athenian manner, casting their liquid 
odour upon the heads of the beaux and belles that perambulate 
the broad and handsome pavement from their carriages to the 
splendid shops on a showery day. 

The antse project sufficiently in either flank, to exhibit its 
entire proportion and a part of the side walls of the chapel, 
which are rusticated in square sinkings to mark the courses of 
stones, in correspondence with those of the front. Between 
the fronts of the antse, in each wing, is a very handsome aper¬ 
ture, with Grecian dressings, and relieved from the ground of 
the wall by sinkings similar to those in the flanks. 

On each wing is raised a rusticated attic, surmounted by a 
cornice of accordant proportions and a lofty blocking course ; 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


101 

which supports a second that forms a base to four antee, one at 
each angle of a cubical campanile or bell tower. The order of 
which these towers are composed, is a species of Doric, some¬ 
what resembling that of the Choragic monument of Thrasyllus. 
at Athens. The antae are surmounted by a lofty entablature, 
consisting of architrave, frieze and cornice in due proportion, 
crowned by a moulded parapet, which breaks over every part 
of the centre and conceals the roofs. 

The eastern faces of the walls, between the antae, are divided 
into ten square panels; the sides are decorated with the two 
upper panels, the lower part being plain ; and the whole of 
them are ornamented by sculptured bosses. Those of the 
upper panels are perforated, to serve as a passage for the sound 
of the bells. 

Between the towers (to see which, however, we had better 
walk a short distance towards Oxford Street), is a lofty capaci¬ 
ous hemispherical cupola, with glazed panels for the admission 
of light to the interior of the church. 

This cupola, together with this mode of distributing light to 
the interior, is more in the Italian style of architecture than in 
the Grecian. Not that I mean to assert that we have many 
existing remains of Greek cupolas, or any finer than that of 
the Pantheon ; but that it is not such a cupola as an architect 
of ancient Greece would have appropriated to such an edifice. 
Yet it is so recedent from the portico, is so mixed with the archi¬ 
tecture of the adjoining houses, and is so little connected with 
the composition of the front arrangement, that it must be par¬ 
doned for the sake of the good effect which it produces in the 
very handsome interior, which, as I said before, is founded upon 
that of Wren’s graceful example, St. Stephen’s, Walbrook. 

The effect from this spot, flanked by the well-filled and 
handsomely displayed shops on each side of the towers, breaking 
against those buildings beyond k, and relieved by those of the 
other side of the street, is peculiarly fine and varied. The cu¬ 
pola comes upon the eye like that of an eastern mosque, the glass 
panels sparkling with the gilding rays of the sun ; whilst the 
circular Corinthian pavilion, on the opposite side of the street, 
makes a beautiful fore-ground mass for a picture of this original 
and tasteful building. See plate of St. George's Chapel. 

The row of Corinthian houses, to the northward of St. 


102 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

George’s chapel, is a great and manifest improvement upon the 
plain dingy brick elevations of our ancestors. The shops, pro¬ 
jecting as they do from the line of the architectural elevations 
above, serve as a kind of perforated and decorated stylobate 
to the Corinthian order of the one and two pair stories. The 
pilasters are arranged in pairs and singly, to accommodate 
them and their interpilasterings, to the openings of the windows, 
and the divisions of the party walls. 

The entablature, which is complete, after the best Roman 
specimens, is surmounted by a blocking course, on which is 
raised a well-proportioned Attic order of dwarf pilasters, with 
cornice and parapet. The windows of this story are nearly square, 
and at the same time are both appropriate to their purposes 
and in unison with the architectural character of the structure. 
These houses, by being built an entire story loftier than those 
which adjoin Mr. Cockerell’s chapel, create an agreeable va¬ 
riety and a beautiful undulation of form that is highly pictur¬ 
esque and pleasing to the eye. 

A cup of coffee, or some other slight refreshment, would, I 
conceive, be agreeable to us; and after a short repose from our 
labours, this very hot morning, we can resume our excursion. 

This important winding up of our machine, which poor hu¬ 
manity so often requires, and which poor humanity is so de¬ 
lighted to have done, being now accomplished, we will cross 
over to the chapel, and from the western side of the street take 
a periscopic view of the eastern side. 

That long range of building, which reaches from the comer 
of Argyle Place to the shop buildings, with a continuous por¬ 
tico of termini, is the Harmonic Institution of Messrs. Welsh 
and Hawes, which is connected with the establishment for¬ 
merly called the Argyle Rooms ; where the celebrated Pic-nic 
Society, under the guidance of Colonel Greville, the Odecho- 
rologeium , a long-named institution for long winded-spouters, 
and other musical and oratorical societies were formerly held. 

The Harmonic Institution was originally a species of share¬ 
holding joint stock company, associated for the publication 
of musical compositions, and other objects connected with 
that fascinating art. But it is now conducted entirely by 
the two eminent musical professors whose name it bears. 
The portico of termini, with capitals formed of the heads of 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 103 

females, and executed by Mr. J. G. Bubb, produce a pleasing- 
variety next the street; but at the same time an unpleasant 
darkness in the rooms within. This rises as much from the 
want of height in the lower story, to which I believe the archi¬ 
tect, Mr. Nash, was confined, as from the projections of the 
portico itself. 

The western part of London is as much indebted to the taste 
for architectural splendour of our present sovereign, as the city 
formerly was to that of Charles II., in whose father’s reign a 
love for art began to be cultivated by the rich and well educated 
part of the community. 

In this respect the wise measures of our present king are in 
opposition to the cautious, but perhaps in those days necessary 
policy of some of our earlier monarchs, who were fearful that 
the metropolis would grow at the expense of the country, and 
become as a head too large for the body. With these views, 
our good old Queen Bess, as she is familiarly called, passed an 
act (35 Eliz. c. 6) for the restraint of new buildings, converting 
great houses into several tenements, and for restraint of inmates 
and inclosures, and from building on any but old foundations, 
in and near the cities of London and Westminster. But her 
majesty’s taste, which rejected a pictorial prayer book, and com¬ 
manded Zucchero to paint her portraits without shadows, was 
never proverbially great, either in painting or in architecture. 
Her successor too, the cautious James, conceived also that 
London was increasing in size beyond his conceptions of me¬ 
tropolitan propriety; and that its inhabitants cultivated metro¬ 
politan architecture beyond what pleased the British Solomon, 
who dealt out his wishes like commands, in oracular apothegms 
and pedantic proverbs. This monarch, as Lord Bacon informs 
us, was wont to be pressing upon the country gentlemen to 
abandon London for their country seats; and that he would 
sometimes say to them, “ Gentlemen, in London you are like 
ships in a sea, which show like nothing; but in your country 
villages you are ships in a river, which look like great things.” 

To persons who, like Cobbett, think our vast and increasing 
metropolis, a wen rather than a sound and well-proportioned 
head, suited to the Herculean fame of the British empire; 
reply may be made, that London in the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury is not as it was in the fifteenth, the metropolis of England 


104 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


alone ; but that it is now the metropolis and mart of the united 
kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, of our immense colonies 
and territorial possessions in the East Indies : that communica¬ 
tions with every part of which, by our improved roads, coaches^ 
the important discovery of the agency of steam, and other 
means of locomotion, are of ten times the ease and rapi¬ 
dity of former days; and, that vast as has been the increase of 
buildings in and about the metropolis, the important facts in 
political oeconomy are elicited, that neither is it at present over¬ 
built, nor inhabitants wanting for the colonies of towns that 
are now surrounding the ancient capital of England ; nor, what 
is yet of greater importance, has any part of the country, or 
any provincial town or city, suffered loss or decrease, by the 
gain and increase of London. 

So steady has been the increase of London since the restora¬ 
tion of the ancient power of our kings over every branch of the 
state, and the consequent expulsion of foreign power over our 
domestic policy, by the reformation, that its contemplation is 
almost startling. So great has been the increase of knowledge, 
by that great diffuser of learning, which no longer debarred the 
people from instruction, nor made an exclusive caste of the 
priesthood for the benefit of a foreign state, that no memorial 
of gratitude we can ever raise, would be adequate to the debt 
we owe to our enlightened and enlightening forefathers, who were 
instrumental in this vital change in the policy of our country. 

The growth of London in the reign of James I. was pro¬ 
digious. Sir William Petty computes its population to have 
doubled itself every forty years, from the year 1600 ; conse¬ 
quently, in 1680 it must have contained four times as many in¬ 
habitants as it possessed at the beginning of the century. Al¬ 
though James endeavoured to drive his opulent subjects from 
the metropolis to their country residences, few of our monarchs 
had a greater number, or more splendid palaces, than the suc¬ 
cessor of Elizabeth, whose metropolitan architectophobia he 
seemed to inherit with her crown. Not content with reproving 
and exhorting his nobles and country magnates, as Lord Bacon 
records, in imitation of his predecessor, he also issued several 
proclamations against the increase of new buildings in London 
and Westminster; yet, at the same time, had both the incon¬ 
sistency and the good taste to employ Inigo Jones, notwith- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROYEMENI'S. 


105 

standing his staunch papism, to build for him his splendid 
palace of Whitehall ; whose banqueting house and splendid 
ceiling, by Rubens, together with its entire design, for 
the preservation and knowledge of which we are indebted to 
the patriotic liberality of the Earl of Burlington, attest the 
grand imagination, sound taste and liberality, of both the 
king and his architect. 

Several edicts were, according to old Stowe, the historian, 
thus issued. One of them forbade all manner of buildings 
within the city, and a circuit of one mile thereof. Among its 
enactments was the salutary one to a city built of timber; that 
henceforward all new buildings should have their fore fronts 
built of stone or brick ; and some offenders were censured in 
the star chamber for offending against its regulations. 

From this period we may date the reformation of the archi¬ 
tecture of London, which is also much indebted to the genius 
and industry of Inigo Jones, the king’s chief architect. 

Of the principal reformers of taste among the learned 
and noble men of this period, the great Lord Chancellor 
Bacon stands in the foremost rank ; and his published opi¬ 
nions on architecture and gardening, are decisive proofs of the 
correctness of his taste. His maxim, that houses are built to 
live in and not to look on , should never be forgotten by the do¬ 
mestic architect ; and his description of a palace, in opposition 
to such huge buildings as the Vatican , the Escurial, and some 
others, which he pithily observes, have scarce a fair room in 
them, is characteristic of the best architectural style of this 
period, which Inigo Jones, Sir Henry Wotton and him¬ 
self had so much improved. 

As we purpose taking a preliminary view of the new palace 
now building near Buckingham Gate, St. James’s Park, pre¬ 
vious to its completion, for my hereafter full, true and particular 
account of its glories ; for I hold it a maxim religiously to be 
observed, that every architect has a right to exclaim to the 
premature critics, stay till it be finished; —a short account of this 
elegant minded man’s idea for a palace may be a good pre¬ 
parative. 

He informs his readers (you will find the details in his ad 
mirable volume of essays), and his opinions carry weight with 
men of discernment,—that they could not have a perfect palace 


METROPOLITAN IMPRO VEMENTS. 


106 

except they had two several sides; one for the banquet, fes¬ 
tivals and triumphs ; and the other for the household and for 
dwelling. These sides he ordains should be not only returns, 
but parts of the front, and should be uniform without, though 
severally partitioned within; and to be on both sides of a great 
and stately tower in the midst of the front, that as it were 
joineth them together on either hand. He desires to have on 
the banqueting side, in front, only one goodly room above 
stairs, of above forty feet in height, and under it a room for a 
dressing or preparing place in times of triumph. How far 
Inigo Jones followed this advice, may be seen in comparing it 
with his design for the new palace at Whitehall, of which the 
present grand and imposing chapel was one of four such build¬ 
ings, and intended by the architect for the banqueting house. 

On the other side, which is the household or dwelling side, the 
noble and learned architect would have it divided at the first 
into a hall and chapel, with a partition between, both of good 
state and ample dimensions. These apartments were not to go 
all the length, but to have at the further end a winter and sum¬ 
mer parlour; and under these rooms, a fair and large cellar sunk 
under ground, and likewise some privy kitchens, with butteries, 
pantries and the like. As for the tower, he would have it of 
two stories, each eighteen feet high above the two wings, and 
handsome leads upon the top, balustraded, with statues inter¬ 
posed ; and the same tower to be divided into rooms as shall 
be thought fit. The stairs, he directs, to be formed upon a fair 
open newell, and finely railed in with images of wood, cast into 
a brass colour, and a very fair landing place at the top. I 
give you nearly the learned chancellor's own words, for I am 
against modernising into fashionable cant, the nervous and 
sinewy language of the time of Elizabeth, of Shakspeare and 
of Bacon ; particularly of the philosophical architect himself, 
whose sublime idea for a royal palace I am now repeating to 
you, borrowing, not stealing, from the rich storehouse of his 
splendid imagination. 

His lordship commands, that by no means should the servants' 
dining rooms be in any of these lower rooms; for otherwise, he 
says, you will have the servants' dinners after your own; for 
the steam of it will come up as in a tunnel. And so much for 
the front; only he directs the height of the first story to be 




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METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


107 

sixteen feet, the upper he had before ordered at about forty 
feet. 

Beyond this front he designed a fair court, but three sides of 
it were to be of a far lower building than the front; and in all 
the four corners of the court, handsome staircases cast into turrets 
on the outside, and not within the row T of buildings themselves. 
But these towers were not to be of the height of the front, but 
rather proportionable to the lower building. He would not 
have this court paved all over, because it w'ould strike up a 
great heat in summer; but only some side walks, with a cross, 
and the quarters laid with grass, kept shorn, but not too close. 
The row r of return, on the banqueting side, was to be divided 
into stately galleries, in which w T ere to be three or five cupolas 
in the length of it, placed at equal distances, and embellished 
with fine coloured windows of several works. On the house¬ 
hold side, were to be chambers of presence and ordinary enter¬ 
tainment, with some bedchambers ; and all three sides were to 
be formed as a double house, without thorough lights on the 
sides, that there might be rooms from the sun both forenoon 
and afternoon. He would have it so disposed, that there might 
be rooms both for summer and winter; shady for summer, and 
warm for winter. 

Instead of describing an ideal palace, one w ould almost think 
it was the philosophical Pliny the younger, describing his Tus- 
culum or Laurentinum to his friends. 

But to proceed with the Chancellor’s royal palace: he com¬ 
plains of some fair houses, that were so full of glass, that one 
cannot tell, he says, where to go to be out of the sun or the cold. 
Bowed window's he held to be good, except for cities, in respect 
to the uniformity toward the street; as being pretty retiring 
places for conference, and at the same time keeping off both 
the sun and the wind ; for that, he observes, w'hich would 
strike almost through the room, doth scarce pass the window. 
He would, however, confine them to few in number, not ex¬ 
ceeding four in the court on the sides only. 

Beyond this court, he w'ould have an inner court of the same 
square and height, which was to be environed with a garden 
on all sides; and in the inside cloistered or porticoed on all 
sides, upon beautiful and w'ell-proportioned arches, as high as 
the first story. On the under story, towards the garden, it was 

w 


108 


METROPOLITAN IMPRO VEMENTS. 


to be turned to a grotto, or place of shade or estivation ; and 
only have opening and windows towards the garden, and be 
level upon the floor, and no way sunk under ground, to avoid 
damps. He proposed also a fountain, or some fair composition 
of statues, in the midst of this court, which was to be paved 
as the other court. These buildings were intended for privy 
lodgings on both sides, and the end for privy galleries ; whereof 
one was to be for an infirmary on the second story, in case the 
prince, or any special person, should be sick; to have cham¬ 
bers, antichambers, bedchambers &c. joining to it. Upon the 
ground story he would have a fair gallery, upon columns, to 
take the prospect and enjoy the freshness of the garden. At 
both corners of the further side, by way of return, he directs 
two delicate or rich cabinets to be formed, daintily paved, richly 
hanged, glazed with crystalline glass, and a rich cupola in the 
midst, and all other elegancies that might be thought upon. 
In the upper gallery he wished there might be some fountains 
running in divers places from the wall, with other conveniencies 
of that nature. 

And thus much, says our philosophical architectural theorist, 
for the model of the palace ; save that there must be, before 
you come in the front, three courts, and a green court, plain, with 
a wall about it; a second court of the same, but more embel¬ 
lished, with little turrets, or rather ornaments, upon the wall; 
and a third court, to make a square with the front, but not to 
be built, nor yet inclosed, with a naked wall ; but enclosed 
with terraces, leaded aloft, and fairly garnished on the three 
sides, and cloistered on the inside with columns, and not with 
arches below. As for offices, he advises to let them stand at a 
distance, with some low galleries to pass from them to the 
palace itself. 

So far does this “ Columbus of the philosophical world” 
direct the architectural taste of his day; the fruits of which 
were apparent, and coming to maturity, in the early part of 
the reign of the unfortunate Charles. This ideal palace would 
be an excellent task to try the abilities of a young architect to 
design on paper, and would make an admirable probationary 
gold medal study for the more advanced students of our Royal 
Academy. Bacon was not the only philosopher who considered 
architecture as worthy the attention of an elevated mind. The 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


109 

wise, the enlightened Sir Henry Wotton, who acquired the 
soundest elements of the art in the school of Palladio, at Ve¬ 
nice, (where the only practical English architect of the day, 
the elegant and accomplished Inigo Jones was then a resident,) 
also imbibed the purest streams of art, entered still more 
deeply into its theory, and gave the world his admirable “ Ele¬ 
ments of Architecturean art which, he says, requires no re¬ 
commendation where there are noble men or noble minds. He 
modestly admits that he is but a gatherer and disposer of other 
men’s stuff; he yet gives to the world the soundest doctrines 
of practice, and the purest of taste. 

Inigo Jones was the great practical architect of this brilliant 
period of our history ; the Lord Chancellor Bacon, the philo¬ 
sophical director of the public taste; Sir Henry Wotton, the 
learned theorist; and king James, with his son and their en¬ 
lightened and brilliant courts, the truly royal and noble patrons 
of architecture and the rest of the fine arts. These eminent 
architectural masters acknowledged Vitruvius for their principal 
legislator, and estimated the learned labours of Palladio at their 
due value. When monarchs, like James and Charles, patronize 
architecture ; when statesmen, like Buckingham, Richlieu and 
Colbert ; when magnates, like Pembroke and Bedford, encou¬ 
rage its productions from love of its beauties, from principle, 
and from a studious conviction of its importance; when legis¬ 
lators and philosophers like Bacon, ambassadors like Wotton, 
and architects like Jones, study, practice and write upon it and 
its principles—the art is both ennobled and ennobles, and it 
must flourish abundantly. Jones and Wren, two of the greatest 
names in English art, loved architecture as an art , practised it 
as a profession , but despised it as a trade. When architecture 
is so patronized, so studied, and so practised, it will rise to a 
level with the best days of Greece and Rome ; but not till 
then. It will be in vain that details are only sought for from 
books, unless the spirit and the mind of the great geniuses 
of antiquity animate the artist. Vain will it be, if he should 

“ Line after line, with painful patience trace. 

This Roman grandeur, that Athenian grace ; 

Vain care of parts ; if, impotent of soul, 

Th’ industrious workman fail to warm the whole.” 


Tickell. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS, 


no 

What a community of master-minds were cotemporaneous in 
the period upon which I have just been dilating ! Paterculus 
observes, with much judgment, that great men generally 
are cotemporaries. The spark given by one, is caught by the 
others, and poets, painters, architects and philosophers, are 
elicited into one bright blaze of cotemporary and universal in¬ 
tellect. 

Now let us continue our peregrinations, and examine that 
circular building of the Corinthian order, which I before noted, 
a*s forming so excellent a foreground piece to the view of St. 
George’s Chapel. See the print of St. George’s Chapel , Regent 
Street , and that of part of the east side of Regent Street. It 
stands at the south-west angle of Argyle Place, and breaks, by 
its agreeable circular form, the monotony of perpetually re¬ 
curring salient angles at the corners of the streets which inter¬ 
sects the main body of»Regent Street. Its rotund convex form, 
also contrasts in a very picturesque and satisfactory manner, 
with the rotund concave forms of the four corners of the inter¬ 
section of Oxford Street and Regent Street, and shews the 
fecundity of the artist’s mind who has produced so much va¬ 
riety in similar situations. The main feature of the building is 
a peristyle of coupled columns of the Corinthian order, raised 
on a stylobate, and surmounted upon a basement of piers and 
camber arches, which form the windows and door of the ground 
floor, or shop story. The columns are covered by a proper en¬ 
tablature of the order, of rather a feeble character, with a 
blocking course, piers, and balustrades over the intercolumnia- 
tions. Between the columns are the lofty windows of the one 
pair floor, or principal story, and behind the balustrade is ele¬ 
vated a well proportioned attic story, with windows over those 
below. This story is crowned by a circular unbroken cornice 
and scamilli, which are covered with a hemispherical cupola by 
way of roof. 

The design of this building, whether regarded as a portion of 
the entire arrangement of the architecture of the street, or in¬ 
dependently of it, deserves approbation; since it displays utility 
as a commercial building, with beauty as an architectural com¬ 
position. 

A slight turn from the continuity of the street, brings us to 
a row of handsome shop buildings, which reach from the cir- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


Ill 

cular building on the north to the corner of the next street 
southwardly. This is as picturesque a range of buildings as 
any between Portland Place and Pall Mall, and exhibits the 
peculiar talent of its architect in a striking manner. The shop, 
or ground story, forms one straight continuous line, of a simple 
unbroken entablature from end to end, covering with its broad 
frieze the upper parts of the windows. The epistylia of the 
centre buildings are supported by antse or pilasters, and of the 
wings by stylagalmatic termini of female heads. The shop 
windows and doors intervene, and with a well-proportioned ba¬ 
lustrade elevated on a blocking course above the cornice, com¬ 
plete the composition; which forms an appropriate, useful and 
handsome basement for the architectural elevation of the 
dwelling part of the houses. 

The superior elevation consists of five parts, namely, a 
centre, two wings, and two receding parts of the main body of 
the composition. The latter part consists but of two stories 
above the shop entablature, whilst the centre and the two wings 
have three; and project boldly before the main body of the 
building:—indeed sufficiently so, as you may perceive by 
turning a little this way, to hold windows for the centre house, 
and returns of the panels in flanks for the wings, which pro¬ 
duce a good effect in the returns, and show a composition in 
perspective. See the print of part of the east side of Regent 
Street , with a view of All Souks Church in the distance. 

I have before mentioned this mode of architectural composi¬ 
tion, when we were examining the villa of Sir James Langham, 
in Langham Place, and endeavoured to show its superiority over 
the geometrical board and square elevations of the carpenter’s 
drawing schools, which omit all consideration of the flank in 
their mode of composition. 

The central building of this pleasing structure, to which I 
crave leave to call your particular attention, as comprising all 
merits and many of the defects of the school of the able ar¬ 
chitect who designed it, is composed of an inverted tetrastyle 
portico of the Ionic order, inclosed between large panelled piers 
which support, with the columns, the entablature. The wings 
are similar, except that they are not so wide, and the porticoes 
have but two columns included in the openings between the 
piers. The main receding building has no columns, but the 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


112 

cornice of the wings and centre is carried through without any 
break, except at the angles of the building. 

In the intercolumniations are two stories of windows, the 
upper tier of which rests upon a string which is carried through 
the whole elevation, and forms a connecting tie, as well as an 
appropriate division of the stories. The lower tier of win¬ 
dows in the main receding building, is composed of six wide 
and handsome Palladian windows w T ith pediments ; and the 
upper tier has dressings of architrave and cornice round each 
window. This portion of the elevation is finished with a lofty 
blocking course over the cornice, which elevates and serves as 
a base for a handsome balustrade that crowns the whole, and 
forms a light and handsome finish to the roofs. 

The centre and wings have long attic windows over the whole 
openings, formed by the piers beneath them, and a sort of 
grotesque antae-baluster supports the upper part. Its square 
panels formed of square sinkings in the stucco, serve as em¬ 
bellishments to the piers both in face and in flank, over the long 
panels with Grecian angular frets in the corners of the prin¬ 
cipal story. These are surmounted at a proper height by a 
small sub-cornice and blocking course, with immense ill-pro¬ 
portioned semicircular acroteria, ornamented with caricatures of 
the Greek honeysuckle, which I heartily wish the first brick¬ 
layer’s labourer who may be employed next winter to throw the 
snow out of the gutters, would have the good taste to pitch 
over with the rest of the rubbish, to Macadamize the street 
with. 

Thus much for the elevation, which, as a whole, shows a 
mind alive to picturesque composition, to light and shade, 
to agreeable form, to proportion, and to most of the loftier fea¬ 
tures of architectural composition; but, in the minor graces of 
detail, in which our masters, the Greeks, so eminently excelled 
all that preceded or succeeded them, an eye, either cold to 
beauty or contemptuous of its charms. The Ionic order of the 
principal stories is robbed of its frieze, and therefore wants 
height. This grammatical error gives the building the appear¬ 
ance of being constructed like some of the churches in modern 
Rome, with the columns of their predecessors ; which being 
too lofty to admit of a perfect entablature, and, therefore the 
frieze, an integral part of every order, is omitted by virtue of 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. x 13 

that law, “ compulsion/’ which even Falstaff himself would 
not submit to. 

Again, the cornice of the Attic order is too small and trivial 
for its place, and the moulded semi-Gloucester cheeses on the 
blocking course most outrageously too large. The stylagalmatic 
termini, which support the shop cornice, are any thing but in 
good taste; and yet the whole, not because, but in spite of 
these deficiencies in taste and selection of detail, presents a bold 
and highly picturesque composition. The depth of the receding- 
parts between the centre and the wings, is productive of great 
variety of light and shade, and the entire design forms a 
pleasing composition, of which the combination discovers both 
judgment and skill, with a very considerable share of novelty. 

An amiable friend of mine, who, a few years since, occasion¬ 
ally aided me with his friendly pen in “ the Annals of the Fine 
Arts has some opinions so completely in accordance with my 
own views on this head, that I cannot resist the pleasure of 
calling in his aid. “ Works of architecture,” says my friend, 
“are not to be judged by precisely the same rules by which we 
appreciate the productions of the poet, the painter and the 
sculptor. These, indeed, require no external assistance in order 
to enable them to embody the conceptions of their minds. 
With the architect it is different; he is dependant upon cir¬ 
cumstances, over which he possesses but small control; and is 
perpetually subjected to restraint arising from the caprice and in¬ 
terference of others. To these causes, in conjunction with others 
of a pecuniary nature, is to be attributed the vast disproportion^ 
both as to number and excellence, between buildings which have 
been executed and those which have been merely projected.” 

In estimating the merits of a piece of architecture, the true 
question is, Has the artist availed himself to the fullest extent 
of all the capabilities of his plan ? Has he effected as much as 
it was possible to accomplish in the allowed extent ? Has he ob¬ 
viated the peculiar difficulties with which he has had to con¬ 
tend? After mature examination, and in spite of the prejudices 
which my unbounded admiration of the beauties of the Greek 
school may have fastened upon my mind, I have often been led 
to admire, not only the skill by which the Architect of Regent 


* Vol. 4, p. 51*2. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


114 

Street (and that is a title that will always distinguish and 
honour his name), has surmounted many obstacles, but also the 
happy contrivances by which in effecting these he has elicited 
positive beauties. 

The street that we are now surveying is replete with such 
qualities; and when it was commenced, I took the opportunity 
afforded me by my situation as Lecturer on Architecture at the 
Surrey and Russell Institutions, where criticisms on the buildings 
of the day were required of me, to state publicly, that “ the 
new street now in formation from Pall Mall to Portland Place 
is a great and useful undertaking ; possessing as a whole a 
grand and commanding character, with more architectural fea¬ 
tures and variety than any large work that we have seen since 
the rebuilding of London after the great fire. Yet it has many 
blemishes f* I thought so then, and the many and very parti¬ 
cular examinations that I have given of its various buildings 
from then till now, confirm me in this opinion ; and to borrow an 
apology from my before-quoted friend of “ the Annals” in the same 
article, if I have at times presumptuously ventured to cavil at 
slight imperfections, it is not because I consider them sufficient 
to detract from the obvious and aggregate excellences of the 
design ; but because I am of opinion that the criticism which 
would really instruct, ought to discuss candidly both defects 
and beauties ; and not actuated by sinister motives either invi¬ 
diously disparage, or puffingly extol. Above all, it is my object 
to avoid that nauseating sycophancy, which is generally found 
to characterize the labours of those cicerones who, professing to 
furnish the stranger with a guide , too often mislead the judg¬ 
ment. Men, who hardly dare to “ hint a fault, or hesitate dis¬ 
like,” and their unqualified commendations, says my friend, are 
not likely to assist in arriving at the ninth beatitude, “ Blessed 
are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disap¬ 
pointed.” 

Therefore, as I before hinted, with all these merits, I consider 
Regent Street to possess many blemishes; some of the archi¬ 
tectural specimens being in a taste absolutely barbarous, and 
mixed with others equally pure and refined. Its masses, great 
parts and divisions, are grand and effective; and its breaks and 


* Lectures on Architecture, by J. Elmes, p. 403. 


































































\ 

METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 115 

general outline productive of an agreeable variety of light and 
shade, whilst at the same time it is entirely free from that dull 
monotony of elevation which is so wearisome in many of our 
new streets. It is also, I there said, the finest work now in 
progress, and has given an architectural feature to the metro¬ 
polis, that was so much wanted as a relief from the eternal 
two windows iron railing and a door f —two windows iron railing 
and a door ,—of the (then) new streets and squares of St. Mary- 
le-bone. 

Until this great undertaking, our architecture seemed selfish 
and internal. Windows undecorated externally, and made 
solely to give light and air to the interior; and doors placed in 
square brick holes, whose only service seemed to be to exclude 
strangers, were the prevalent features of modern English do¬ 
mestic buildings; whereas architecture, on the contrary, should 
exhibit the taste and wealth of the master of the mansion, by 
its exterior to the observing stranger; as well as contribute to 
the internal comfort and splendour of the family and its imme¬ 
diate friends. 

All the buildings in this street are not, however, designed by 
Mr. Nash, who is entitled to the honour of being its first pro¬ 
jector, its indefatigable continuer against obstacles almost insur¬ 
mountable, and its successful completer against numerous pro¬ 
phecies of its failure and ruin. The row below that which we 
have j ust been examining, belongs to the eminent wine merchant, 
Mr. Carbonel, who figures in the history of Brinsley Sheridan. 
It was designed by Mr. Robert Abraham, who is also the ar¬ 
chitect of the County Fire Office; but he must give way for 
the present to Mr. Soane, the classical professor of architecture 
in the Royal Academy, who designed that long and lofty row 
of buildings on the opposite side of the way. 

How thronged the street is ! we must wait till this regi¬ 
ment of Life Guards, and this, almost army of carriages, horse¬ 
men and foot passengers have passed, before we can catch a 
glimpse at it. Who, judging by this never ending throng, 
which, as a moving mass, reaches from Hyde Park Comer to 
Whitechapel Church, can think London too large for its wants; 
although its amazing enlargement on every side is almost a 
miracle. If honest Tom Freeman, the Gloucestershire man, 
who published, in a collection of epigrams, in 1614, one called 

R 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


116 

“ London’s Progresse,” were permitted to have a day or two to 
witness its progress in 1827, he would have far more reason to 
exclaim now than in his day, 

“ Why, how nowe, Babell, whether wilt thou build 
I see old Holborne, Charing Crosse, the Strand, 

Are going to St. Giles’s in the field. 

St. Katerne she takes Wapping by the hand. 

And Hogsdon will to Hygate ere’t be long. 

London is got a great way from the streame, 

I thinke she means to go to Islington, 

To eate a dish of strawberries and creame. 

The citty’s sure in progresse I surmise. 

Or going to revell it in some disorder 
Without the walls, without the liberties. 

Where she neede feare, nor mayor, nor recorder. 

Well, say she do, ’twere pretty, yet ’tis pitty, 

A Middlesex bailin should arrest the citty.” 

St. Katherine, however she may once have taken Wapping 
by the hand, has now left her dingy spouse, and taken refuge 
under the protection of the more fashionable and better dressed 
Regent’s Park j buying her liberty by largesses of docks and 
warehouses to her mercenary old yoke-fellow of Wapping old 
stairs. 

As we cannot yet obtain a favourable view of Mr. Soane’s 
structure, let me call your attention to that well-proportioned 
arched gateway in the Italian style of architecture, with a 
window and cornice over it. It is the new entrance front to 
Archbishop Tennison’s chapel, built in 1823, after the designs 
of Mr. C. R. Cockerell, the architect of St. George’s Chapel 
in the upper part of this street, that we examined a short time 
since. 

The front next Regent Street consists of a wide and lofty 
arch, with channelled rusticated piers and voussoirs. Over the 
key stone is a string course of solid masonry, a dressed window, 
and a cornice and blocking course by way of finish. The 
arched gateway leads to the vestibule of the chapel, which 
spreads behind the houses in the street. There is not in the 
whole street a design more chaste in decoration, more harmoni¬ 
ous in proportion, or more judicious in appropriation. Simpli¬ 
city, and consequently modest dignity, distinguish this har¬ 
monious elevation, which possesses, notwithstanding its narrow 
limits, a general symmetry and proportion as delightful to the 
eye as it is creditable to the taste of its author. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


117 


Now that the cloud of human beings, horses, carriages and 
the dust of Mr. Loudon M‘Adam has somewhat dispersed, and 
permits us to have a glimpse at Mr. Soane’s row of buildings, 
let us walk on and consider it in flank from the north, in front, 
and again from the south. There are many reasons for this 
peculiar consideration of this very original and singular com¬ 
position. First , because the tasteful architect of the pile is 
accused of having attempted in it what he himself calls “ the 
philosopher’s stone of architecture,” a new order: next , because 
he was ridiculous enough to suffer himself to be persuaded, 
while suffering under a painful disease of the eyes, to bring an 
action against the critic for thus libelling him : and also , because 
he has in one or two instances deviated from those sound rules 
of Grecian architecture, which are not too lightly to be sacrificed, 
or deviated from, only by a great master, who is thoroughly 
conversant in the nature of all the combinations of his art. 

Mr. Soane, I consider to be such a master, and therefore, 
has by prescription, a right to make such deviations and to 
take such liberties, as long as he keeps within the bounds of 
good taste, and runs not into a capricious riot of doubtful 
vagaries. 

Let us take a stand in this quiet angle, and survey his com¬ 
position, one of the largest examples of domestic architecture, 
except perhaps his Bank buildings in Lothbury, that he has ex¬ 
ecuted ; and as he is one of the master-spirits of his art in our 
days, an investigation of such a design from the hand of such 
an artist cannot be a loss of time. 

First, Mr, Soane was offended at the critic, for accusing him 
of the crime of endeavouring to invent a new order of archi¬ 
tecture, although he has introduced a novel description of co¬ 
lumns as supporters to his balconies, which we will examine in 
detail presently, when we cross the street. 

On this subject, I remember hearing Mr. Soane declaim in 
the Royal Academy to us of his students in the spring course 
of lectures in 1819, when he said, that the ignis fatuus of phi¬ 
losophy,* the search after the philosopher’s stone, occupied the 
attention and bewildered the minds of the learned for ages; 

* From manuscript notes taken by me in February 1819, and reported in the 
Annals of the Fine Arts, vol. 4, p. 289. 


118 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


and some followers of architecture have also wandered out of 
their paths in the endeavour to discover or invent a new order, 
the philosopher's stone of architecture. The architects of Italy 
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries made many attempts of 
this kind, and in the reign of Louis XIV. the fancy extended 
to France. Would it had stopped there ; but unfortunately the 
mania attacked this country also, and various futile attempts 
were made in this way. In France a sixth order, absolutely 
new in all its parts, mouldings and ornaments, was reported to 
have been invented by Pierre de la Roche. In the reign of 
our Edward III. his son, the black prince, in consequence of 
his victory over the French at the battle of Cressy, adopted the 
crest of ostrich feathers worn by the king of Bohemia, who 
was killed in that battle, and it has been retained by all suc¬ 
ceeding princes of Wales. With this beautiful badge, says 
Mons. de la Roche, I adorn the capital of my new order, and 
from the beauteous and graceful delicacy of the nodding 
plumes, from their enlarged size and bold projections, they 
must, when thus applied, rank far above the Corinthian order! 
We are further told, that this order was absolutely new in all 
its parts, and that it must eventually and infallibly supersede 
the Corinthian, as it only required the sanction of antiquity to 
make it generally adopted ; and, says Pierre de la Roche, when 
“ my order ” shall be hereafter found among the ruins of palaces 
and cities, the effects of cotemporary jealousy having subsided, 
then will posterity give the honour due to my invention ! How 
far the inventor’s anticipated idea of the opinions of posterity 
upon the design may be justified, said our able professor, I 
know not, for as yet this new order has never been executed in 
any single instance. 

Other architects, besides the one that Mr. Soane has cited, 
have tried their hands upon a new order. In Sir William 
Chambers’ valuable treatise on civil architecture, there are no 
less than six. One of Flora composed of leaves and tendrils, 
which is but a species of the genus Corinthian, although Sir 
William terms it Composite. A second of Mars , composed of 
Amazons, with curved draperies over their elbows, supporting 
the abacus at the angles for the volutes and caulicolee, an ar¬ 
morial trophy with shields, and an empty helmet for the rose 
in the centre. A third of Apollo, with a sphinx at every corner, 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


119 

peeping out over the second tier of Corinthian leaves, under 
the pent house of the abacus. A fourth, which he calls the 
French order, composed of palms for the volutes, a cock for the 
central flower, and tasteless lyres between the palm branches, 
which serve as stems to the caulicolse. A fifth of Venus , the 
lower part of which, the abacus and central volutes, are strictly 
Corinthian, whilst the caulicolse and angular volutes are formed 
of dolphin’s tails, the heads of these loving fish nearly meeting 
under an escallop shell, which supports the central volutes. 
And the sixth is of Mars , which resembles that of his paramour 
in the lower half, but has ram’s heads and horns in the upper, 
which, by the way, would be a more characteristic appendage to 
the capital of the injured spouse of the goddess. 

Yet of this attempt to make a new order, Sir William says,^' 
“ the ingenuity of man has, hitherto, not been able to produce 
a sixth order, though large premiums have been offered, and 
numerous attempts have been made, by men of first rate talents, 
to accomplish it. Such is the fettered human imagination, 
such the scanty stores of its ideas, that Doric, Ionic and 
Corinthian, have ever floated uppermost; and all that has ever 
been produced, amounts to nothing more than different arrange¬ 
ments and combinations of their parts, with some trifling devi¬ 
ations scarcely deserving notice; the whole generally tending 
more to diminish than to increase the beauty of the ancient 
orders.” 

Sebastian le Clerc, a French artist of some ability, who wrote 
and published a treatise on architecture, that was translated 
into English by Chambers in 1732, and is much cited by him 
in his own larger work, has also given two new orders. One 
he names the Spanish order , and pronounces it to be more ele¬ 
gant than the Roman or Composite, both in the whole and in 
its parts. The leaves are plain, such as are often called water- 
leaves, with grenate stalks rising among them. The horns of 
the abacus are supported by small volutes, and the centre is 
decorated with a lion’s head instead of a rose, which noble ani¬ 
mal, the author says, he need not mention, is the symbol of 
Spain ; and that it expresses the strength and gravity as well 
as the prudence of the people of that nation. He also gives a 

* Page 153 of Gwilt’s (that is the best modern) edition of 1824. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


123 

second design for a Spanish order, and leaves the architect at 
liberty to choose which of them he likes best, flattering himself 
that either the one or the other will do very well, if executed 
by a good sculptor. Further, in the frieze, he says, over this 
capital may be added a terrestrial globe with cornucopias, 
palms and laurels, which are significant ornaments, he observes, 
that explain themselves. To the globe in the frieze, he has ap¬ 
pended the heraldric ornament of the knightly collar of the 
golden fleece which hangs down on to the architrave. The other 
he calls the French order, which he conceives to possess as great 
a share of delicacy, richness and beauty as is practicable with¬ 
out running into excess. The ornaments of the capital are three 
fleurs de lis on each side, with palms, and the badge of France, 
a cock; arms underneath, and a lyre in the shade of the 
palms under each horn of the abacus, which are so many sym¬ 
bolical ornaments, he adds, that persons of understanding will 
conceive without any difficulty. Crowns are introduced as or¬ 
naments in the frieze, and a sun shining in the middle; whence 
it will be easily apprehended, he says, “ that this order is conse¬ 
crated to the Glory of the Grand Monarque.” Cock a 
doodle doo! “ This order,” he exultingly exclaims, “ will have the 
noblest, the most beautiful, and agreeable effect imaginable: 
I have made,” he continues, clapping his wings, “ a little model 
of it in rilievo, which I never see without pleasure .” 

Although Sir William Chambers translated this balderdash 
in 1732, yet when he published his own matured treatise in 
1759, in animadverting upon such vagaries, he says, “ the sub¬ 
stitution of cocks, owls, or lion’s heads &c. for roses; of tro¬ 
phies, cornucopias, lilies, sphinxes, or even men, women and 
children for volutes; the introduction of feathers, lyres, flower- 
de-luces, or coronets for leaves; are more alterations than im¬ 
provements ; and the suspension of flowers, or collars of knight¬ 
hood, over the other enrichments of a capital, like lace on 
embroidery, rather tends to complicate and confuse the form, 
than to augment its grace, or contribute to its excellence.” 

You may remember, that I have more than once during our 
survey, spoken of the propensity of some of the architects of 
this street and neighbourhood to despoil the orders of distinc¬ 
tive parts, such as the omission of friezes, or architraves, and 
sometimes both, and other similar violations of propriety. Of 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


121 


this practice, Sir William says with the greatest truth, that 
“ the suppression of parts of the ancient orders, with a view to 
produce novelty, has of late years” (one would think that the 
worthy knight of the Polar star was peeping down upon some 
of our new mansions and palaces), “ been practised among us, 
with full as little success. And though it is not wished to re¬ 
strain sallies of imagination, nor to discourage genius from at¬ 
tempting to invent; yet it is apprehended, that attempts to 
alter the primary forms invented by the ancients, and established 
by the concurring approbation of many ages, must ever be at¬ 
tended w r ith dangerous consequences, must always be difficult, 
and seldom, if ever, successful. It is like coining words, which, 
whatever may be their value, are at first but ill received, and 
must have the sanction of time to secure them a current re¬ 
ception.” 

Yet the rules of architecture do not impose trammels upon 
legitimate invention; notwithstanding they exclude neio orders 
with the pertinacity that the old Romans opposed the coining 
of new words, and for the same reason ; to preserve the purity 
of the art: for an incalculable variety is yet to be obtained from 
the license allowed to genius, in varying the proportions of the 
orders in every respect, without destroying their generic cha¬ 
racter, or omitting any essential element of their composition. 
Although the Greeks confine the elementary principles of the 
orders of columns to three species; yet the variety among them 
is so great (to say nothing of the variety occasioned by inter- 
columniating in various styles, and in the various orders of 
temples and other beautiful and genuine freedoms of design), 
that we find scarcely two alike, and that no true architect of 
that school need, in obeying its rules, servilely to copy from 
another; not even his illustrious masters in the art. The man, 
says Michelangiolo Buonarotti, who follows another, is always 
behind; but he who boldly strikes into a different path, may 
climb as high as his competitor: and though the road be some¬ 
what more rugged, yet, if his efforts are crowned with success, 
the reward will amply compensate for the risk and labour of 
the enterprize. 

Another bold inventor of an order, was our countryman 
Emlyn, who w T as architect to our good king George III. at 
Windsor, and designed the modern Gothic screen in St. George’s 


.122 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


Chapel. It was unlike the much talked of “ positive orders” 
of a living architect, being a single column at the bottom for 
one third of its height, where it divided itself into two separate 
shafts like a forked elm tree, and finished with coupled capi¬ 
tals like those in Perrault’s celebrated facade of the Louvre, 
The capitals were composed of the ornaments of the order oj the 
garter , the foliage of ostrich feathers, like those of the before- 
mentioned Monsieur de la Roche, the central rose in the 
abacus, of the illustrious star which has shone on the breasts 
of some of the most celebrated heroes of modern times, and 
connected by the emblematical garter and motto of the gallant 
Edward its founder. This illustrious invention of a new order 
did not, I believe, share the fate of that of poor Monsieur de 
la Roche; for, if I mistake not, his royal patron permitted him 
to erect a trifling pavilion in the neighbourhood of that 
towering castle, which, as Burke says, “ stands like the British 
monarchy, not more limited than fenced by the orders of 
the state; like the proud keep of Windsor rising in the 
majesty of proportion, and girt with the double belt of its 
kindred and coeval towers and also to dedicate to him a folio 
work of its proportions and eulogies. I have heard too, that 
the good-natured monarch, whose taste in architecture is pro¬ 
verbial, often indulged in a smile at the splendid invention of 
his self-sufficient architect. 

Another countryman of ours, was also an inventor of new 
orders, and I fear he will not be the last to be recorded in this 
bewildering and useless search. This was Batty Langley, a 
bungler, who called himself an architect, and may rank per¬ 
haps as much below the erratic and absurd Italian Borromini, 
as Borromini himself does below the correct Palladio. This 
inventor, for he every where intrudes his “ inventions,” as su¬ 
perior to Palladio, whom he is perpetually putting forward in 
competition with his important self; this inventor also invented 
orders, exhausted all , and then invented new , and published the 
five orders of Gothic architecture! the Tuscan Gothic ! the 
Doric Gothic !! the Ionic Gothic !!! the Corinthian Gothic !!!! 
and the Composite Gothic!!!!! Could he have read French, 
or have lived late enough to have read Sir William Chambers’s 
translation of Le Clerc, he should doubtlessly have astounded 
the world with at least a Spanish Gothic and a Trench Gothic. 

































































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 123 

To these, I will just add a few more pertinent remarks of our 
professor’s, from the same lecture, which I hope he will soon 
publish to the world, with the others that he delivered from the 
same chair. In fact, said Mr. Soane, inventions of this kind 
have always proved futile, for while the Corinthian order has 
afforded to the world admiration and delight for upwards of 
2000 years ; so far from a new order being invented after this 
lapse of time, not even a new member, or a new moulding, has 
been added to what was before known and used by the ancients. 
To improve the orders, is like the attempt 

“ To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, 

To throw a perfume on the violet. 

To smooth the ice, or add another hue 

Unto the rainbow, or with taper light 

To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish. 

Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.” 

Shakspeare. 

In fact, my dear sirs, architecture no more requires a new 
order than painting demands a new colour; and the architect 
who would complain of limited means in the langua-ge of his 
art, would, were he a painter, be seeking a new colour instead 
of using those which formed the palettes of Titian, Rubens 
and Reynolds ; or if a scholar, find fault with the paucity of 
words used by Virgil, Cicero, Tacitus and Caesar, and be seeking 
for more in the vocabulary of the middle ages, or in the Dic- 
tionarium Latino-Barbarum of Adam Littleton, or the Glossary 
of barbarous Latin of the learned Spelman: the language of 
Shakspeare and Milton would be too limited for the licentious 
liberty of speech that he would seek, and Grose, or Pierce 
Egan, must open their profuse stores of the slang dictionary 
to his diverging tongue. 

The ground, or entrance story of this row of buildings (see 
the plate of Buildings on the east side of Regent Street , which 
contains the row of dwelling houses designed by Mr. Soane), 
is rusticated, with the square sinkings usually termed French 
rustics, in contradistinction to the champhered, angular or Ita 
lian rustics. The windows and doors have semicircular heads 
with rusticated voussoirs. The porches, or porticoes, to the 
wings, I omit for the present, from the extreme singularity of 
their position, till I call your attention to the upper portion of 

s 


J‘24 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


the elevation. All the windows throughout the entire composi¬ 
tion, are semicircular on the tops and alike; which is in con¬ 
trariety to the Italian practice of having circular, angular and 
square headed, pedimented, architraved, dressed and undressed 
windows alternately and in different tiers; as if their elevations 
were offered as the architect’s pattern-card of windows, for his 
patrons to choose which they like best. 

The superior stories consist of a centre and two wings, 
slightly marked by lofty antse of a fanciful composition. The 
lower story is finished by a bold string-course, which goes from 
end to end of the composition, and divides the basement from 
the principal stories. At each extremity of the building is a 
pair of antse, enclosing three stories of one window wide; the 
lowest rusticated and of moderate height, the one pair story 
lofty, and the third, or chamber story, of less elevation. The 
centre, enclosing four, windows in width, of similar heights to 
the wings, and an attic story boldly marked with a large semi¬ 
circular headed Palladian window, a well-proportioned cornice, 
and lofty acroterise, composed of escallop shells and foliage. 
Two subcentres of four windows each, support in a graceful 
manner the main centre, and have corresponding Palladian 
windows ; but the attic pilasters and cornices are not so lofty 
as the centre, and are finished by smaller acroterise over each 
pilaster. Those are connected to the centre by two ranges of 
beautiful balustrades, in which the joiner’s incongruous contri¬ 
vance of half balusters in stone work, seemingly glued up 
or bradded on to the intervening piers, are appropriately 
omitted. Indeed, for this improvement or restoration of purity 
in taste of balustrading, we are indebted to Mr. Soane, who, I 
am almost sure, was the first architect in this country who so 
used them, as he universally does in every specimen of his 
works with which I am acquainted. The pyramidal form of 
the whole composition is beautifully preserved by a pair of sar- 
cophagi-acroterise of smaller dimensions, over the two exterior 
pair of antse of the principal story. These antse have Greek 
sinkings and angular frets in them, instead of flutes, and as 
the whole composition is an architectural capricioso of a master 
in his art, no direct order is used. But what shall I say to the 
two side porticoes, to which you have so repeatedly called my 
attention. You complain, and with justice, that they are placed 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 125 

as if they were dropped from the clouds accidentally into their 
present situations; that they mark no distinct centre or divi¬ 
sion of the composition, neither of the wings, nor the sub¬ 
centres of the elevation, and that they do not appear to give or 
receive any advantage from their apparently absurd situation : 
and, in fact, that if they were asked by any one, as the face¬ 
tious architect Bonomi did of the insulated colonnade of Carlton 
House— 


“ Care colonna che fatte qua ?” 

they, the misplaced porticoes, would be compelled to answer, 
with them, 

“Non sapiamo in verita 

or, as some wag has translated it, under the fictitious name of 
an eminent architect, whose works rear their lofty heads not a 
thousand miles from Clewer meadows ; 

w But just venture to ask them, ‘Pray what brings you there ?’ 

They’d answer, ‘ ’pon honour, can’t say, we declare.’” 

The legitimate situation for these porticoes, according to the 
rules of the old masters, should be to mark some centre, as 
under the extreme wings, or in the middle of the principal 
wings. But our professor has chosen to place them neither in 
the one nor in the other, to the surprize of the whole profession, 
particularly those of his own school. 

In every other respect this handsome and commodious row 
of houses, is among the most elegant examples of street archi¬ 
tecture in the whole metropolis. Composed of no particular 
order , and being ornamental, and rather of the Etruscan 
school in style , a fanciful wandering from the rigid rules of the 
art, is not only allowable but praiseworthy, as affording oppor¬ 
tunity for the indulgence of an artist-like originality, that is 
peculiarly the attribute of Mr. Soane. Other architects belong 
to schools, but Mr. Soane has had the ambition to make the 
attempt of forming one; how far he will succeed in the pro¬ 
curing of disciples is another thing. An able writer on archi¬ 
tecture in the Annals of the Fine Arts (vol. iv. p. 517), says, 
that “ it is highly desirable that the name of its architect 
should be inscribed on every building of any importance, for in 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


126 

many instances it is almost impossible to ascertain by whom an 
edifice was designed. In this respect architects are unjust to¬ 
wards themselves—other artists stamp their names on their 
productions, why not architects ?” Of all living architects, 
Mr. Soane is the least likely to suffer from this cause, for every 
design that he ever made, and every building he ever erected, 
from his machicolated porches at Norwich Castle to his superb 
council chamber at Whitehall, the most tasteful, elegant and 
splendid room of the day, is stamped with his seal and impress, 
and marked on every moulding with his name. He has the 
merit of having introduced an elegant, ornamental and chaste 
style into England, as florid as the richest of the Roman, and as 
chaste as the fane of the virgin goddess of the Athenian. 
With him, purity is not poverty, breadth baldness, nor chaste¬ 
ness of style coldness. Rich, ornamental and florid, wanting 
perhaps a little boldness in the larger parts, Mr. Soane has suc¬ 
ceeded in founding a style, extremely original and entirely his 
own. He has enlarged the bounds of the art, not by the in¬ 
vention of a new order, but by the introduction of new species 
of the legitimate genus into England. If we owe a powerful 
suspicion of Grecian taste and purity to James Wyatt, of rigid 
correctness to Athenian Stuart, we owe the knowledge of the 
bold and beautiful Corinthian of the circular temple at Tivoli, 
to Mr. Soane; who has been followed in the use of this ma¬ 
jestic variation of the parent stock by Mr. Brooks in the upper 
order of the London Institution, and by Mr. George Smith in 
his elevation of St. Paul’s School. (See those prints, and that 
of the Bank of England.) He has also used the Corinthian 
order of the temple of Jupiter Stator in the Roman Forum 
(which, by the way, was introduced into this country by the 
late Mr. Holland, in the portico at Carlton House, which 
has been taken down to make room for the centre of Waterloo 
Place), in a beautiful manner at the new buildings now 
in progress at the treasury. These two species of the genus 
Corinthian, with the very fine one of the portico of Agrippa 
at Rome, and the many beautiful variations of the same 
order in Greece, particularly the gorgeous example of the 
Choragic monument of Lysicrates at Athens, form as great 
an assortment of splendid variety in this one order only, 
. as the most determined seeker after a new order can desire. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


127 


In the Ionic order, Mr. Soane has not shewn so much origi¬ 
nality, being, as well as the Doric, of too plain a simplicity for 
his love of richness. He has used it successfully in the interior 
of the Bank of England, as I will shew you when we visit that 
grand pile of building, as well as in the before-mentioned privy 
council chamber at Whitehall, and in the national debt office 
in the Old Jewry. Before this period, we appeared limited to 
the Corinthian of the Pantheon, or a few variations, as in al] 
the works of Wren, Gibbs, Chambers and Hardwick. 

But to return to the elevation before us; the composition, as 
I have said before, is graceful and appropriate, the arrange¬ 
ment of the windows and the doors convenient and symme¬ 
trical, and the ornaments beautiful and elegant in the ex¬ 
treme. 

The cast iron columns which support the balconies, are those 
which excited the ire and ironical encomiums of the critics, 
whom the architect attempted to tongue-tie by the law, and 
which the said critics entitled the Bseotian order of architec¬ 
ture. 

As we have some moments to spare, and the story is a right 
pleasant one, I will endeavour to recount the leading particulars 
of this architectural critico-phobia. In the spring of 1824, the 
fourth number of Knight’s Quarterly Magazine , the most able 
and entertaining periodical of the day, and which I hope is not 
dead but only sleeping, contained a lively piece of criticism 
upon the original style of Professor Soane’s designs in general, 
and upon this very building in particular, firing a few heavy 
shots in passing at his Dulwich picture gallery and the new 
law courts. Upon these latter buildings the professor has an¬ 
nounced the intended publication of a memoir and defence. 

For this high crime and misdemeanour, the professor brought 
an action for damages against the publisher, and put a certain 
great antiquary, who figures in the fiery article, (as well as my 
friends Nash, Smirke and Gwilt, with a sly rocket at myself,) into 
the witness box. But the worthy professor took, as the lawyers 
say, nothing by his motion, or rather as his private secretary 
would say, as long a lawyers bill and a \erdict for the de¬ 
fendant, as he did when he adopted a similar line of conduct 
against a poetaster some years since, for abusing his scored 
walls and antrn at the Bank of England in dogrel verse. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


128 

The critic commences by lamenting the annihilation of the 
sixth or Beeotian order of architecture, which is a fair retort 
upon what the professor advanced in his lectures at the Royal 
Academy upon the same subject. He also attacks the woiks of 
the professor, with that good temper, so free from gall and spite, 
that characterize his own review of the works of his cotempo¬ 
raries at the Royal Academy the first season, in which the 
academicians so unaccountably and unceremoniously stopped 
him, by their resolution that the professors should not review 
or criticize the works of cotemporary artists of their own 
country ; with that freedom from spleen and illnature that sig¬ 
nalized that very interesting portion of the professor’s lectures, 
and obtained them (the critics in question), the approbation of 
Christopher North in Blackwood’s Magazine ; and with that 
spirit of open enquiry that the literature of a free country 
should always encourage. 

This sixth order, which is the ornamental support of the 
balconies on each side of the heavy central porch of square 
pilasters, in the building before us, the critic supposes to have 
been treated upon in Pancirollus* celebrated “ History of Me¬ 
morable Things Lost.” It was used, he says, at Thebes in 
Bseotia, and thence called k ar the Beotian. He pre¬ 

sumes that this pearl of great price, this philosopher’s stone of 
the art, for which the French Academy offered a munificent 
prize, is to be found in the Editio Amstel , 15 vols. folio, of the 
works of the learned Vander von Bluggen , of which he gives a 
grave facetious imitation of that plumbean style that distin¬ 
guishes the lucubrations of the mere antiquary. The narrative 
states that the illustrious Vander von Bluggen, had by one of 
those fortunate accidents which seldom occur in the life of a 
scholar, obtained an ancient manuscript which furnished many 
details of parts of the order. It also relates, that “ he had 
further the good fortune, after a most painful and expensive re¬ 
search, to discover on the side of ancient Thebes, four fragments 
of an acroterium, and a very minute specimen of a column, 
which, with a Dutch idea of ordinary things, he compares to a 
mopstick, enabling him distinctly to trace all the propor¬ 
tions and other great characteristics of this superlative order. 
It is evident,” say our facetious critics, “ from the history of 
architecture, that there has always been a great struggle, since 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 129 

the decay of the Roman empire, to burst the limits which the 
five orders had imposed upon invention. The prevailing styles 
of the middle ages, in every country, offer constant proofs of 
this fact. Nor has the same desire been less ardent in times 
approaching to our own, and even in our own country and our 
own age.” 

He then alludes to the premium offered by the French 
Academy to the inventor of a sixth order; and the numberless 
competitors for this prize, he says, “ produced in their highest 
flights, nothing beyond the Gallic cock for the Grecian volute ; 
to the mysteries of proportion, as we shall see exemplified in 
the Bseotian order, they were utterly blind.” Next, our critic 
describes John Emlyn’s sixth order, that I mentioned to you 
some short time since, saying, that “ at the latter end of the 
last century, a laborious provincial architect of this country, 
dazzled by the splendour of regal employment, felt his inven¬ 
tive genius so encouraged, that he published an elaborate work 
on his discovery of the sixth, or as he designates it, i the 
Georgian order but alas! his pretensions were of so 
slight a texture that a bon mot of his late majesty consigned 
the Georgian order to all but the oblivion of a joke, even after 
it had been embodied in the portico of a Nabob. It would be 
tedious to record the phlegmatic speculations of the German, 
or the frigid attempts of the Russian architects. Upon this 
subject all have gone wrong, because all have believed that 
this great problem was to be solved by invention, and not 
by research ; they should have sought for the lost Pleiad, in¬ 
stead of endeavouring to recreate her. Guided by the strong- 
light of reason and analogy, the learned Vander Von Bluggen, 
in the fifteenth century, discovered that a sixth order had ex¬ 
isted, in discovering the Bseotian. The still higher glory has 
been reserved for a greater genius of our own times and 
country, to drag forth from the dust of obscurity the genus of 
this remarkable portion of the art, and to give it 

‘ A local habitation,’ 

not a name in the metropolis of the British empire.” 

Thus does the youthful critic play with this vagary of Mr. 
Soane's, which, to say truth, does no more come under the laws 
of criticism in relation to the canons of sound art, than a ve- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


130 

randah or an alcove ,* but no living architect can better afford 
a little sport in this way than our professor, to whom the critics 
give the benefit of an invention rather than a revival. At any 
rate, they say, “ it is certain that the professor has not himself 
announced the sources of his information; and though we may 
expect from his candour that he will at least leave to the world 
a posthumous edition of the treatise of Von Bluggen, with his 
own valuable illustrations, we must consider it both prudent and 
patriotic that he has led his country to a due appreciation of 
the merits of the order, by his own successful practice, in pre¬ 
ference to the publication of a dry theory.” 

He then proceeds to analyze the new order, and to seek its 
origin. Look at it carefully, and you will perceive that it is 
little more than a decorated iron pillar to carry the balcony, 
somewhat resembling the metal candelabra of the ancients, with 
a spreading capital to prevent the insistent stone from being 
flushed by its narrow upper extremity ; and that is not unlike the 
umbrella-shaped capitals of some of the Hindustanee specimens, 
brought to this country by the late Mr. Hodges, which were 
so justly eulogized by Sir Joshua Reynolds in his thirteenth 
lecture ; where he says, “ the barbaric splendour of those Asiatic 
buildings, which are now publishing by a member of this Aca¬ 
demy (Mr. Hodges), may possibly furnish an architect, not 
with models to copy, but with hints of composition and 
general effect, which would not otherwise have occurred.” 
Such were the motives, I doubt not, that influenced the archi¬ 
tect of this pile of buildings to give these instruments of mere 
support more of an architectural character than they in general 
possess. 

Look, therefore, at these columnar supporters, and enjoy the 
affected gravity with which Messrs. Oliver Medley and Reginald 
Holyoake, for so the critics designate themselves, examine their 
origin, as Mr. Soane's sixth order of architecture. So much has 
this architect set his face against such a project, that I hardly 
wonder at his wrath, in being made against his will the inventor , 
if not the restorer of one. “ The desire of all people,” say 
they, “ to find the origin of every species of architecture in 
natural objects, is in itself the best evidence of the truth of 
these analogies. The volute of the Ionic capital is held by 
some to represent the natural curling down of a piece of bark 



rublished.,July 21. 18<?'/, b j Jones 3c C° 3. Aclon Place,Kinds]and koad., London 










































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


131 


from the top of a beam; by others to have been suggested by 
that part of the hair which hangs down in curls on each side of 
a woman’s face. The origin of the Corinthian capital is na¬ 
turally more complicated ; but the idea is still beautifully varied 
and simple. A basket had been set upon the ground and 
covered with a square tile; there grew near it a plant of acan¬ 
thus or bear’s-breech; the leaves shot up and covered the outer 
surface of the basket, and as the stalks rose up among them 
they soon reached the tile, which overhung the edges of the 
basket at the top, and by its stopping their course upwards, they 
curled and twisted themselves into a kind of volutes. The 
origin of the Baeotian is not less distinctly marked by nature; 
nor is the peculiar story attached to its discovery by Von 
Bluggen less curious. Indeed in this passage the style of our 
author kindles into the fanciful and the poetical, in a very un¬ 
usual degree for a Frieslander. He relates that on the first 
settlement of Cadmus in the neighbourhood of the future 
Thebes, the nymphs, who took a peculiar interest in his for¬ 
tunes, had, on one occasion, an hydraulic festival (which, he 
says, in a note, must have been very similar to the august cere¬ 
mony of opening the dykes) ; during the progress of the re¬ 
joicings, a portion of the waters of Helicon were diverted from 
their course, and running into a small natural basin on the sur¬ 
face of the earth, in time produced, round its edges, some ele¬ 
gant specimens of a remarkable plant, till then unknown in the 
natural history of Greece, but which the inhabitants, with 
beautiful propriety called children of the earth. Cadmus, who 
was then intent upon the employment of an order which should 
rival and exceed all those of his associates, was powerfully im¬ 
pressed with the propriety of imitating the proportions of the 
slight stem and the useful termination of this plant, in the 
columns of a peculiar light and airy order, which should com¬ 
bine the greatest possible advantages of shade and ventilation.” 

To this passage the “ mad wags ” have appended a note to 
the following effect, that their readers will find the plant re¬ 
ferred to, accurately described in the Linnean arrangement; 
class cryptogamia; ordo fungi; sect pileati; species phallus, 
pileus subtus lcevis. Anglice toadstool. To this happy in¬ 
cident, say our merry critics, we owe the invention of the 
Bseotian order. 

T 


132 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


“ As in the series of the orders,” continue they, “ previously 
known to us, they were 

' Fine by degrees,’ 

/ NL » V 

so in this one,—the climax of the series,—it was 


‘ Beautifully less,’ 

in a most remarkable manner. It may be estimated by com¬ 
paring it with the Corinthian, the rule for the lightest example 
of which is ten and a half diameters high; the most robust of 
the pure Baeotian columns,” (pray look at the example before 
us,) “ had not less than twenty-five diameters.” 

“ Von Bluggen states that the most perfect specimen of this 
order, existing in the time of Alexander, was in the temple of 
Hermaphroditus, at Thebes; but which edifice was involved in 
the common ruin of the city. In this country, the best public 
example is exhibited in the columns of the central portico of 
the pile of building in Regent Street, a part of which is dis¬ 
tinguished as the emporium of Messrs. Robins and Co. Auc¬ 
tioneers and Land Agents.” 

In this merry strain do our lively critic^ proceed, and as they 
have touched upon other recent edifices in a similar merry 
mood, and in a good architectural taste, I may, perhaps, when 
we come to those buildings, call in their aid again. The li¬ 
mited space of the new law courts, which comes under their 
censure, although fairly commented on, is a crime of which the 
architect is guiltless. Indeed it is a wonder how he has done 
so much in so little space, and when compared with those which 
disgrace the city, and inflict worse torments to Chief Justice 
Best than his worst fit of the gout, they are as the Parthenon 
to a pig-stye. 

Before leaving this elegant elevation, I cannot help calling 
your attention for a few moments longer to our facetious friends 
of the Quarterly Magazine. They are poets as well as critics, 
and by an ancient virtue of their office, are also prophets. 
They predict the action that the architect afterwards brought 
to redeem the reputation of Messrs. Robins’ door posts. In a 
sportive imitation of Gray’s celebrated Ode to Eaton College, 
they make the architect lament the fate of himself and divers 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. ] 33 

of his brethren, in being liable to the sportive kicks of unfeeling 
critics, in an 


“ ODE 

On a distant prospect of Dulwich College.” 

This building is a very fine specimen of Mr. Soane’s own 
original and best style, and which some fine day we will go 
over to visit. The Ode begins somewhat in this way— 

“Ye vases five, ye antic towers 
That crown the turnpike glade, 

Where art, in dingy light adores 
Her Bourgeois’ ochrey shade,” 

and so on; then he apostrophizes the superior of the College, 
who, by the will of its founder, Allen, the celebrated comedian, 
must always be one who bears his name, in this way — 

“ Say master Allen, hast thou seen 
The connoisseuring race. 

Breathless, amaz’d, on Duhvich-green, 

My lines of beauty trace ? 

Who foremost now delights to stop 
To look at ‘ God’s gift’* picture shop ; 

Is’t Nash, or Smirke, or Gwilt ? 

Do not the knowing loungers cry, 

‘ My eye !’ at my sarcophagi. 

And guess by whom ’twas built 1 ” 


After many similar stanzes, which are all clever, merry and 
characteristic parodies on Gray’s fine original, they thus pro¬ 
phetically announce the fate of themselves and of Mr. Knight 
their publisher. 


“ Dare some, on critic business bent, 

Their murmuring labours ply, 

To work ill humour and constraint 
On one so great as I?” 

****** 

“ Let them, regardless of my doom, 

Pursue the glorious race, 

Nor fear the writing, spouting scum. 

Or in, or out of place. 

* The designation of the college by its founder. 


134 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


For see, how all around me wait, 

The crows who watch an artist’s fate— 
The printers’ devils, baneful gang— 
Ah see, where still in ambush stand 
The dreadful miscellaneo-band. 
Grinning at every pang.” 


Now for the prophecy! 

“ May these the lawyer's talons tear, 

The vultures of the mind. 

Twenty indictments ev’ry year, 

And fines that lurk behind !! 

Let them in Newgate pine their youth !! 

Let rivals, with a rankling tooth, 

Eat thousands from their sale away !!! 

May B- n make their readers snore !!! 

And I, and Nash, and hundreds more, 

Curse them,—aye ev’ry day. 

* + ■¥*¥¥* 

Then your humble servant comes in for a share of the laugh; 
but I am too old a soldier in the warfare of the critics, and 
, have had too many great guns fired at me to care for a coup de 
pistolet charged with so little lead as this. The ode then pro¬ 
ceeds— 


“ To each his sufferings—all great men, 
’Neath envy still must groan, 

Elmes, for the beauties of his pen, 

I, for my works of stone ;— 

Yet let us boldly laugh at fame ; 

We’ll still buy puff's, though somewhat tame. 
The house some day must rise, 

The Board of Works, yet pays its fees— 
No more—where ignorance is ease, 

‘ ’Tis folly to be wise.’” 


The observation in the last but two, led our fellow-sufferer, 
whose liberality in pecuniary affairs no one ever doubted, to 
expend the whole “ fees,” therein alluded to as due for the law 
courts, in a splendid entertainment to his friends at the Free¬ 
mason’s Tavern; where his health was enthusiastically drank, 
with long life to play many more such architectural freaks as 
those which our sportive critics have raised so many laughs 
about. This has been a long, but I hope not a tedious, inves¬ 
tigation of the most original and (in parts) most elegant row of 
houses in the metropolis. See the print. 



METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


135 

That plain row of buildings, with a central three-quarter 
tetrastyle portico of the Ionic order in the upper stories on the 
north side of Mr. Soane’s, is the property, as I told you a few 
minutes since, of Mr. Carbonel, the well-known wine merchant. 
It is designed by Mr. Robert Abraham, the adapter of Inigo 
Jones’s old Somerset House to the front of the County Fire 
Office. The extensive cellarage is appropriated to the immense 
stock of its wealthy owner, the entrance story to ^ompting- 
houses, and the upper stories to the dwellings of their respec¬ 
tive tenants. There is nothing particularly to admire or con¬ 
demn in the elevation. It is devoid of technical errors and 
absurdities; but has no pretensions to taste or genius in its 
composition. Good sense predominates, and a skilful adapta¬ 
tion of some architectural common places, in a street the most 
architectural in London, to a judicious arrangement of domestic 
apartments, is accomplished with success. There is nothing 
new, either in the composition or in the detail ; but there is, at 
the same time, no robbery committed upon the entailed pro¬ 
perty of the orders, nor any perversion or misapplication of old, 
acknowledged and long received canons of the art. 

As the way is now clear, let us cross to the eastern side of 

the street, and take a view of those houses of the Corinthian 

* '1 * ^ 

order to which we are now turning our backs. 

This is a very grand and picturesque composition. The long 
row opposite to us, I mean, with a noble pedimented centre and 
two pavilion-like wings at a considerable distance, and the 
whole embellished by Corinthian pilasters from the pavement 
to the upper story. It looks like an ancient Roman palace, 
buried in its own ruins up as high as the plinth of the order, 
and converted into a row of commercial, or mercatorial dwelling 
houses. See the print of part of the west side of Regent Street. 
The shops, and dwelling rooms over them, are constructed between 
the pilasters, which are of large proportions, and support a per¬ 
fect entablature of architrave, frieze and cornice; which, with the 
capitals and bases of the pilasters, are of excellent proportions 
cf the Roman school of architecture. The pilasters are fluted 
from top to bottom, and cabled to a third of their height, and 
the centre is distinguished by a remarkably well proportioned 
pediment. The general aspect of the whole of this structure 
is majestic and architectural, but is sadly in want of a base. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


136 

It rises too abruptly from the pavement, or as Sir Joshua Rey¬ 
nolds very forcibly expresses it in his elegant criticism on Van¬ 
brugh (thirteenth discourse), it “ abruptly starts out of the 
ground without expectation or preparation.” 

The architect of this princely street seems to have had this 
masterly piece of criticism in his mind’s eye, when he composed 
its ingenious and agreeable windings and pleasant varieties of 
form, height, width, style and proportions; and endeavoured 
most successfully, as I will show, to avoid that uniformity which 
generally produces weariness. “ The forms and turnings of 
the streets of London,” says this eminent painter, “ and other 
old towns, are produced by accident, without any original plan 
or design : but they are not always the less pleasant to the 
walker or spectator, on that account. On the contrary, if the 
city had been built on the regular plan of Sir Christopher 
Wren, the effect might have been, as we know it is in some 
new parts of the town” (Sir Joshua is speaking of such longi¬ 
tudinal atrocities of brick walls with holes in them, that line 
the dry canal-like avenues of Harley, Welbeck and Wigmore 
Streets), “ rather unpleasing ; the uniformity might have pro¬ 
duced weariness, and a slight degree of disgust,” 

To obviate this uniformity, which began to be apparent, even 
in the Adams’s rows of mansions of Portland Place, Mr. Nash, 
who seems to embrace much of Vanbrugh’s talent, with many 
of that great architect’s faults, commenced at the end of Port¬ 
land Place, by the curvilinear irregularity of Langham Place, 
to which he has given much of that fortuitous effect, which, 
though by design, has much of the accidents of old towns that 
so much delighted the elegant mind of the accomplished Rey¬ 
nolds. He then proceeded, with different widths, different 
styles of houses, various orders of architecture; here a row of 
moderate sized private houses, there a range of first-rate shops 
and houses; here a whimsical melange of his own; there a 
capricioso by Professor Soane, intercepted by a piece of matter 
of fact surveyorship by Mr. Abraham; here again a dilapidated 
Ionic robbed of its fair members; there a beautiful Corinthian, 
shooting its fair proportions upwards to the sky. In another 
place, an elegant introduction of the classical architecture from 
the banks of the Ilyssus, contrasted with English dwelling 
houses ; and at no great distance a plain manufactory, of no 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


137 


order but that of the coach-maker who built it, serves as a 
back ground or neutral tint to the composition. Then again, 
the sweeping line of the Quadrant, leading through the Ionic 
Circus of Piccadilly, down the increased width of the lower part 
of Regent Street, into Waterloo Place; where it was once 
finished by the Ionic screen and Corinthian portico of Carlton 
Palace (see the print of Carlton Palace , looking down Regent 
Street,) but is now to terminate in a splendid square of first- 
rate mansions and the beautiful new plantations of St. James’s 
Park, crowned with the towering pinnacles of the Norman 
Abbey of Westminster. 

Thus has he obtained that variety and intricacy which Reynolds 
so highly commends (Lecture 13), as a beauty and an excellence 
in every one of the arts which address themselves to the imagi¬ 
nation ; and has judiciously made use of the recommendation of 
the same great master, where he says (in the same Lecture), “ it 
may not be amiss for the architect to take advantage sometimes 
of that to which I am sure the painter ought always to have 
his eyes open, I mean the use of accidents ; to follow when they 
lead, and to improve them rather than always to trust to a re¬ 
gular plan. It often happens/’ he says, “ that additions have 
been made to houses, at various times, for use or pleasure. As 
such buildings depart from regularity, they now and then ac¬ 
quire something of scenery by this accident, which I should 
think might not unsuccessfully be adopted by an architect, in 
an original plan, if it does not interfere too much with con¬ 
venience.” 

The next row of houses on the same side of the street is in 
a different, and by no means so good a style of architecture, 
although of the same school, as that which we have just been 
inspecting. The shops form a sufficiently good stylobate or base¬ 
ment to the order above, which is however Frenchified in style 
and flimsy in detail. The coupled pilasters are meagre in form, 
and the variations from the canon of the order, where they 
occur, are not in sufficiently good taste to make them apolo- 
getical for their introduction. Some relief from that wearisome 
monotony, of which complaint has been before made, is how¬ 
ever effected by their irregularity, which, like a discord in music, 
is often productive of good effect; for architecture has to the 


138 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


eye, many principles in common with music to the ear, poetry 
to the mind, and painting to the imagination. 

Before we leave this part of the street, permit me to call your 
attention to that gay pile of buildings on the eastern side im¬ 
mediately below or south of that by Mr. Soane. (See plate 
of buildings on the east side of Regent Street.) The row I mean 
is that with the centre and two sides formed with detached 
coupled columns of the Corinthian order in the stories above 
the ground floor. For richness and picturesque effect, in the 
Italian style, this row is surpassed by none, but it is deficient 
in the more manly graces of the Grecian school. The length of 
this row is favourable to its effect, and the deep projections of 
the centre portico and end pavilions by the tone of their sha¬ 
dows and play of outline, are productive of a remarkably agree¬ 
able play of light and shade, projecture and recess, and 
consequently a considerable portion of that variety which is so 
agreeable to the eye of a painter. 

The ground story forms a solid and effective basement to the 
order of the dwelling stories above, which is of the Corinthian 
order of the modern Italian school, with even less of boldness 
than that of Sir William Chambers. The columns are elevated 
on a continued pedestal, relieved in the inter-columniations by 
balusters. The attic is of Mr. Nash’s school, and consequently 
partakes more of the Roman manner than its name indicates. 
The columns are of elegant proportions, and their capitals fe¬ 
mininely delicate; almost too much so for an exterior. The en¬ 
tablature is lofty, and the surmounting attic story in j ust pro¬ 
portion for effect, and is well finished by a lofty blocking course 
that forms the necessary parapet, according to tire act of parlia¬ 
ment which fetters our architects to clauses and sections, 
provisoes, neverthelesses and uotwithstandings. The central 
pediment is well-proportioned, but rather meagre for want of 
ornament; but the coup d’oeil of the whole pile is in that le¬ 
gitimate style of sound art, that till this magnificent project 
was complete, our street architecture was so much in want of. 

Let us now, as the remainder of the buildings between us 
and the Regent’s Quadrant are of comparative unimportance, 
proceed at once to that very magnificent and highly original 
pile, whose immense sweep is worthy of a Roman amphi¬ 
theatre. See plate of The Regent's Quadrant. 














































































































































































139 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

How charming is the effect of the sun now journeying fast 
to the westward, and pouring down his golden rays upon the 
western wing of the colonnade ;• which contrasts its yellow 
tones with the neutral tints and reflected lights of the opposite 
side, like a splendid drawing by Cleriseau, Girtin or Gandy. 
We will walk under the shady side and regale our eyes with 
the infinitely yarious and varying effects of this architectural 
kaleidoscope. 

Of all the bold and striking originalities with which this 
splendid undertaking abounds, this singularly beautiful and 
colossal double architectural quadrant is at once the most pro¬ 
minent, the most useful and the most ornamental. 

Let us take a station opposite the south-east corner of the 
County Fire Office, where that building, and the Quadrant 
itself, forms one of the finest architectural groups in the metro¬ 
polis. As we are now here we will first examine the elevation 
of this useful establishment. 

A schism has arisen, I learn, between the good-tempered 
architect who designed it, and the worthy magistrate who 
founded the society which so profitably carries on its business 
within its walls, each claiming the merit of having designed 
the facade. Mr. Beaumont, who holds the office, I believe, of 
managing director, was formerly an artist of no mean talents. 
Some of his portraits, among which I particularly well remember 
one of Incledon singing his characteristic song of the Storm, 
and another of that fascinating actress Miss Duncan, now Mrs. 
Davison, as Juliana in the Honey-moon, were of striking veri¬ 
similitude. This gentleman, not content it seems with the dis¬ 
tinguished glories of being the founder of two assurance offices, 
(see the European Magazine for January, 1820,) has also the 
assurance to lay claim to that also of “ furnishing the design 
of the building,” which was only “ carried into effect by Mr. 
Abraham the architect,” so says my informant of the European. 
Mr. Abraham, on the contrary, with a praiseworthy regard to 
his own reputation, indignantly disclaims the “ furnishing of 
the design,” by the worthy painter, and claims, as he ought to 
do, the whole and sole merit of both “ furnishing the design,” 
(what upholsterer was it I wonder that undertook to furnish 
this expression,) and of being bond fide its architect in every re¬ 
spect. Now having a great respect for my friend, who really 

u 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


140 

did act as its architect, and only knowing his able rival by re¬ 
putation, I feel .a kind of delicacy in deciding their several 
claims to this honour. But as I see my learned friend the 
Editor of the new edition of Sir William Chambers’ Treatise 
coming up Regent Street, he shall be my umpire. His reply 
is, (see his edition of Sir William Chambers, note to page 234), 
that it appertains to neither, but is an indifferent copy of the 
old water front of Somerset House by Inigo Jones. So while 
these gentlemen are disputing for the-bone of architectural dis¬ 
tinction, old Inigo snaps it up and marches off with the 
honours. 

But, fair and softly, friend Gwilt; Sir Joshua Reynolds in¬ 
forms us, and his practice followed his precept, that the bor¬ 
rowing a particular thought is not plagiarism, but commendable, 
and that no man need be ashamed of copying the works of the 
great masters. (See the sixth Discourse.) For their works 
being “ considered as a magazine of common property, always 
open to the public, whence every man has a right to take what 
materials he pleases.” So my friend Robert Abraham has only 
borrowed from this public magazine a single idea of our greatest 
English architect, (as an artist and a man of genius I mean, 
and not at all in disparagement of his great mathematical and 
learned successor Sir Christopher Wren,) and accommodated it, 
as Reynolds dictates, to his own work. 

Call you this backing your friend,—as Cooke the tragedian 
said to some intimates in the boxes, who rose and turned their 
backs upon the stage every time that he entered, in token of 
disgust at his drunken habits, that were at the moment clouding 
his genius; then a plague of all backers say wc; for you 
are certainly affixing the character of a plagiarist upon your 
friend. 

Certainly not, for if you would have suffered me to have 
finished my quotation (from memory) from Sir Joshua, you 
would have found, that I was going on to say, with that eminent 
painter, and more eminent critic, that “ he who borrows an idea 
from an ancient, or even from a modern artist not his contem¬ 
porary y and so accommodates it to his own work, that it makes 
a part of it, with no seam of joining appearing, can hardly be 
charged with plagiarism; poets,” he says, “ practise this kind 
of borrowing without reserve. But an artist should not be 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


141 


contented with this only; he should enter into a competition 
with his original, and endeavour to improve what he is appro¬ 
priating to his own work. Such imitation is so far from having 
any thing in it of the servility of plagiarism, that it is a per¬ 
petual exercise of the mind, a continual invention.” You must 
excuse me, I could quote this elegant author to an eternity, and 
have some thoughts of parodying his admirable Discourses into 
an adaptation of architecture for painting, even as I have long 
done mentally; for to each, and to every one of the arts are his 
just and pointed opinions applicable. “ Borrowing or stealing,” 
continues he, “ with such art and caution, will have a right to 
the same lenity as was used by the Lacedemonians ; who did 
not punish theft, but the want of artifice to conceal it.” Now 
I maintain that the architect of this building meant no depre¬ 
dation upon the territories of our beloved Inigo; for to take the 
whole water front of his Somerset House and tack it upon the 
County Fire Office without a seam, was an act of such Spartan 
valour, for it was public property, and well known to every 
architect, that it cannot be said to possess any portion of the 
servility of plagiarism. 

Now that our learned friend has left us, we will consider a 
little how Mr. Abraham has used this treasure of the illustrious 
Anglo-Italian, whose talents are better understood and conse¬ 
quently estimated, on the continent and in the birth places of 
the art, than those of any other English architect. 

The basement story is nearly similar, but is not so lofty, and 
is therefore less dignified in its appearance. It wants, too, the 
beautiful preparative, pyramidal series of steps, that give so de¬ 
lightful, and elegant a character to the original. This perhaps 
might have been a compulsatory measure in order to adapt the 
ancient elevation of a royal palace to the dingy stories of a 
modern fire office. 

The lofty double plinth, and the before-mentioned flight of steps, 
are exchanged for a low mean plinth carefully guarded by spur 
stones. The piers which carry the arcade of the original, are 
nine courses in height, but in the elevation before us, there are 
only seven. The key-stone alone, of all the voussoirs of 
Jones’s arches, goes up to the string course, which is effected 
by having seven courses of rustics. That important member, 
and its two supporters, run up to the string in the example 


142 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

before us, through being deprived of two courses of masonry, 
having only five lines of rustics. The beautiful and necessary 
contour of the extrados of the arch is thus destroyed, and the 
key-stone rendered dumpty and inelegant. I will show you 
John le Keux’ fine engraving of it, from a drawing by Joseph 
Gwilt when we return. It looks as if it had been compressed 
like two trusses of hay into the compass of one for cavalry sea 
stores, by one of Bramah's presses, or a dwarf Hercules, when 
compared with the elegance of proportion that characterizes the 
original. 

In the upper or principal part, the architect has been more 
successful ; and if his sculptor had not made the capitals too 
wide and bunchy for his shafts, his efforts would have com¬ 
manded more admiration. The six inward pilasters of the 
original, that is, all but the two outer, are changed on his 
drawing board, by the powers of shading, into columns ; for 
Inigo, be it known, used the atrocities of the diminished, or 
column-proportioned, of the Romans or Palladians , instead of 
the gently and almost imperceptibly diminished antse of the 
Grecians or Soanians. To this I have no objection, for it is a 
really skilful adaptation, and one that comes within the pale of 
Reynolds’ approbation ; nor to his substituting the triangular 
shaped pediments over all his principal windows, for the 
alternate curved and triangular pediments of his bearded rival, 
which are rather too much of the pattern card order to be chaste. 
Indeed it is doubtful whether it be necessary to introduce pe¬ 
diments at all under an entablature of such projecting dimen¬ 
sions. But the architects of the Roman school were ever cele¬ 
brated for the fondness of them ; as even their own Cicero 
reproaches them for it in his day, and said that if one of their 
architects were employed to erect a temple in heaven where it 
never rains, he would introduce his quantum sufficit of pedi¬ 
ments. The trusses of the windows on the original, spread and 
come down beyond the architrave, which is preserved entire, 
and in the example before us, they are applied upon it, and are 
less graceful. The upper windows are too small, and present 
the anomaly of an architrave below an architrave. So they 
do, it is true, in the original, but being of larger dimensions, 
and touching the under side of the epistylium of the entire 
order, they have a less offensive depth of masonry between 
the two. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 143 

The balconies of the original, are also more architectural and 
effective, being of masonry, and in accordance with the rest 
of the building, than in the modern adaptation; where the 
genius of the iron foundry has driven the architectural balus¬ 
trade away to make room for the serpentine contortions of the 
smithery. 

The entablature, like that of the original, is straight and un¬ 
broken, but it is surmounted by a blocking course, which serves 
as a plinth to a well-proportioned balustrade, which Mr. Abra¬ 
ham, in pursuance to the command of Moses, the most ancient 
of architectural Jurists, ( a When thou buildest a new house, 
then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring 
not blood upon thine house if any man fall from thence,” Deut. 
xxii. 8.) has raised as a protector for the terrace, which com¬ 
mands an unrivalled view over the city of Westminster and the 
county of Surry. 

The intervals over the exterior pair of columns and pilasters 
are solid, as well as the three which are over the three central 
inter-columniations; and the rest are open and filled in with 
well-proportioned balusters. Over the centre is raised a base 
with two scamilli which support an extremely well imagined, 
and equally well executed figure of Britannia, seated with her 
guardian lion by her side. This figure is the work of Mr. J. B. 
Bubb, a pupil of Rossi, who has executed several of the most 
conspicuous ornamental sculptures in the metropolis. 

The flanks of the building form a continuation of the design, 
which with all its deviations from the fine original whence it is 
adapted, is a very striking elevation, extremely well adapted to 
the structure that it embellishes. From the commanding nature 
of its situation, from its connection with the adjoining buildings 
of the Quadrant, and from its locality to the picturesque street 
in its front, it is one of the most showy, as well as one of the hand¬ 
somest detached buildings in the metropolis. With regard to 
its great general resemblance to the fine original before alluded 
to, it is certainly better to use the works of celebrated masters 
in the manner here adopted, than to project original designs 
of ill-proportions and bungling details. 

Now let us take a turn under the Doric colonnade of the 
Quadrant on the south side, and return by the north, which 
will bring us back to this spot; whence we will make a pib 


144 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

grimage to the fallen glories of Carlton Palace, which is reviving 
in a splendid series of spacious mansions. 

See the changing beauties of this lofty colonnade, which 
covers a row of lofty shops, and a mezzanine story for dormi¬ 
tories for shopkeepers. Above it are handsome dwelling apart¬ 
ments, the lower of which have access to the spacious prome¬ 
nade formed by the ceiling of the colonnade. 

The order used by Mr. Nash in this structure, is his favourite 
Italian version of the Doric, with plinths, bases and flutes. 
The entablature is of just proportions, with proper triglyphs, a 
blocking course on the summit of the cornice, and a balustrade 
with pedestals over the columns. The columns are of cast 
iron, by the use of which material, as well as the mode of mul¬ 
tiplying them by fusion in moulds, instead of carving from solid 
stone, or working them in stucco or cement, an immense saving 
of expense, and consequently a great gain of splendour is ob¬ 
tained. The entablature and balustrades are of Bath stone, and 
the facings of the upper elevations, as well as the dressings 
round the windows, are of patent mastic, a species of oil ce¬ 
ment that Mr. Nash has been mainly instrumental in bringing 
into use. 

As we have now sufficiently viewed this magnificent pile of 
buildings, we may conclude our labours for the day by a walk 
down to the site where Carlton Palace formerly stood. 

The circus that we are now about to cross, although not on 
so large a scale, as that at the intersection of Oxford Street, 
yet partakes of the same character of ingenious contrivance at 
the intersections of two great avenues. It is however in a 
better style of architecture, and possesses a greater breadth of 
detail. The lower, that is, the shop and mezzanine stories, are 
formed in the inter-columniations of an Ionic order; the 
columns of which are copied from those of the little temple on 
the banks of the Ilissus at Athens. The capitals are formed 
with great boldness, and the simply bold cornice of the original 
is applied with much taste and ingenuity ; which latter very 
useful quality in an architect, Mr. Nash possesses in an eminent 
degree. 

The building on the other, that is, on the western side of the 
street, rearing its campanile above the lofty parapets of the 
houses, is the chapel of St. Philip, a work of Mr. George 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 145 

Stanley Repton, a son of the late Humphry Repton, Esq. the 
celebrated landscape gardener, and a worthy disciple of Mr. 
Nash, whose style he imitates and follows to a fault. 

If we walk a few houses lower down, we shall gain the ad¬ 
vantage of having the shadows fall towards us, which will show 
off the full beauty of the composition, and at the same time 
give it the advantage of the picturesque contrast of that re¬ 
ceding mansion to the northward of it. See the plate of St. 
Philip's Chapel , Regent Street. 

The portico is tetrastyle, and of the Italian or Palladian Doric 
order, of one metope and a triglyph projection. The central 
intercolumniation is wider than the rest, having a metope in the 
centre, and the entablature is surmounted by a triangular pedi¬ 
ment of true Italian proportions. 

The metopes are ornamented by bulls’ sculls and paterse, the 
emblems of pagan sacrifice, and so far inappropriate to a Chris 
tian temple. In the wings, the cornice and mutules only are 
continued, the triglyphs being judiciously omitted, which give 
room for a loftier window than could otherwise have been intro¬ 
duced. Above the cornice of the wings is an attic decorated by 
sculptures of bulls’ sculls and sacrificial wreaths, surmounted 
by a blocking course with an acroterium in the centre. 

These attics being higher than the pediment, offend against 
the rules of true composition, but by the introduction of the 
lofty campanile, the defect is converted into picturesque beauty, 
and creates at the same time a novelty and a tasteful variety, 
as desirable, as it is too seldom met with in modern architec¬ 
ture. 

This campanile is erected on a lofty cubical pedestal, which 
is embellished by a square panel including a circular one. The 
tower itself is a copy from the beautiful little circular temple in 
Athens, called the choragic monument of Lysicrates, but better 
known to travellers as the lantern of Demosthenes. The first 
application of this beautiful architectural gem, to the purpose 
of a bell turret, that I remember, was by my friend and fellow 
student, James Savage, the architect of the new church at 
Chelsea, (which I mean to take you to see, next week,) in 
his very pretty chapel of ease in W ell Street, Hackney; 
and the next was by myself in the episcopal chapel of St. 
John the Evangelist at Chichester, which I remember the late 


146 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


President West, wanted to knock off as a pepper box. Both 
of these, however, were less facsimiles of the original than the 
present, and were more like the formal bell turret. 

It has been objected to the composition of this front, and I 
confess, with much appearance of truth, that two distinct styles 
of architecture are used in it; namely, the pure Grecian of the 
best period, and the Roman; and that the most ancient, the 
Grecian, is built upon the most modern. Our critics say, that 
when two styles are thus used together, as, for instance, the 
Egyptian and the Grecian, or the Grecian and the Roman, the 
Egyptian should be below, the Grecian upwards, and the Ro¬ 
man above all; because a Grecian architect might have occasion 
to raise an Egyptian building (speaking chronologically), and 
choose to apply his own national style, and a Roman architect 
that of a Grecian; but never the converse of this proposition. 
The two instances before alluded to are not obnoxious to the 
same criticism, even if its justice be admitted, because the styles 
there used are throughout Grecian. 

In this composition Mr. Repton has closed the cell of the 
temple behind the columns to two-thirds of their height, leaving 
the upper portion of the columns open to emit the sound of the 
bell. This is not only more original, but at the same time is 
also productive of greater beauty than the above cited other 
two examples, which are blocked up as high as the architrave, 
and with openings perforated for sound. Here the openings 
are equally effective as concerns the laws of acoustics, and 
more beautiful, as shewing the entire diameter of the columns 
in their upper third, as well as the entire of their capitals, and 
occasioning the wall below to look more like an accidental in¬ 
trusion than the solid blocking up of the others. 

The interior of the chapel is in a high degree beautiful, com¬ 
modious and novel. It is composed of a lofty splendid gallery 
of the Corinthian order, bearing a second without columns on 
its entablature. The altar is in this building at the west end, 
on account of entering on the east, and opposite to it is the 
organ gallery and fine-toned organ. In front of this are two 
state pews, one of which belongs to Prince Leopold, and where 
his Royal Highness is often seen at morning service with the 
plain simplicity of an English gentleman. The minister of the 
chapel is the architect’s brother, who must feel considerable gra- 





















































































































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


147 


tification in delivering his doctrines in an edifice constructed by 
so near a relative. 

Now we are upon the subject of churches, it may be as well 
to mention that the theatrical-looking pews on each side of the 
organ in Mary-le-bone new church, so often complained of, have 
been removed since our visit to that edifice, at the suggestion of 
the present intelligent rector, Dr. Spry, who was appointed by 
his present Majesty on the death of Dr. Heslop ; the crown 
having purchased the living from the Duke of Portland for 
£45,000. These unsightly pews have been removed, and in 
their stead you may now behold two beautiful ellipses, which 
accommodate all the poor children of the parochial schools, not 
one of whom, until this change was made, had a seat in the 
church, but were confined to the school room prayers. I was 
not aware of this important alteration of the principal complaint 
against that worthy and respectable man, Mr. Thomas Hard¬ 
wick, who was its architect, till my attention was called to it by 
the Rev. George Musgrave, the active curate of the parish. I 
shall take an early opportunity of revisiting the altered edifice 
to see how the additions accord with the original design. 

The building just above us, opposite to the recessed mansion 
near to St. Philip’s Chapel, is a sort of tria juncta in uno, the 
northern wing and upper part of the centre belonging to Mr. 
Edwards, a gentlemen of fortune of the principality of Wales, 
and a relative I believe of Mr. Nash; the southern wing and 
ground story of the centre, to Mr. Nash himself, and the lower 
parts next the street are let off, a la mode de Paris for shops. 

The mansion of Mr. Nash, is in plan, of the form of the 
letter E without the middle stroke; the two shorter lines touch¬ 
ing the street as projecting wings, and the longer receding for the 
body of the house. The basement story is rusticated, the centre 
being appropriated to the use of his clerks, and the front lower 
part of the wings as shops, which are let to various tradesmen. 
The southern wing has a tetrastyle portico of the Grecian or 
true Doric order, which leads to a well proportioned vestibule, 
from which there is an ascent by a broad staircase, into an ex¬ 
tensive and very splendid picture and statue gallery, ornament¬ 
ed by some excellent copies made in Rome for Mr. Nash, of 
some of the finest of Raffaelle’s works in the Sistine Chapel, 
and in the chambers of the Vatican. I hope ere long to have an 


x 


148 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

opportunity of showing you these pictures, which I have not 
seen since their completion, but was informed by Mr. Nash, 
when he conducted me over the house, how they were to be 
finished. 

The exterior is in a very pretty and ornamental style of archi¬ 
tecture, and consists of an order of Corinthian pilasters, of great 
delicacy, surmounted by an entablature of correct proportions. 
The portico, as I have just mentioned, is of the Grecian school, 
but, being below the Italian upper story, it is not obnoxious 
to the criticism that I have alluded to in my remarks on St. 
Philip’s Chapel. 

This gallery and the dwelling part of Mr. Nash’s house re¬ 
cede the entire width of the wing, and extend down the small 
street on the south, to the back street on the east, supported by 
a colonnade of massive granite columns of the Tuscan order. 
Under this colonnade is a row of shops of various trades, se¬ 
parated from the house by cast iron floors and brick arches, 
to preserve the latter from any fire that might occur below. 

The opposite wing has a similar portico, leading to the 
upper part of the wing and the central building, which is the 
dwelling: house of Mr. Edwards. So much for the internal dis- 
tribution of the mansion. 

The upper part of the before-mentioned order of Corinthian 
pilasters, is finished by a lofty balustrade with intervening 
piers over the capitals of the order. The character of the ele¬ 
vation is chastely elegant, without much pretence of novelty 
in design ; or of any peculiar character save that of utility, 
sligntly decorated. The pilasters are well-proportioned, and 
the capitals are as well adapted to the square form of the shaft 
as is possible; but pilasters are an abomination to the true 
Corinthian of the Greek school, by converting the poetical vase 
of Callimachus into a square box, and are never so truly elegant 
as the antse of that school. No genuine Greek work exhibits 
them, for the arch of Hadrian, below the Acropolis at Athens, 
is a Roman work, and was executed when pure architecture 
was considerably deteriorated in taste. Antse, with fancy capi¬ 
tals, not exactly of the ram’s-horned composite nearly opposite, 
would have had a more becoming effect. The windows are 
well-proportioned for light and use, and the upper tier in good 
prdonnance. The balustraded parapet is an excellent finish to 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. [4^ 

the elevation, and gives an air of lightness and gaiety to the 
composition, which is highly becoming to the character of the 
order which it decorates. 

The principal story of the architect’s house, is on the one 
pair, and a most gorgeous affair of gilding, ultra marine, and 
the newly invented Musaic gold, (called in the newspapers 
Mosaic gold, perhaps from being of Jewish origin,) in the 
richest Parisian style imaginable. The Cafe de mille colonnes, 
or Napoleon’s Salle des Marechalles, are nothing to it, for 
flutter, multiplicity of mouldings, filagrain, and leaf gold. Mr. 
Nash seems to have emulated in these apartments the laboured 
elaborateness of finish that characterizes the works of M. Percier, 
rather than that chastened soberness of good taste that ought 
to distinguish a noble style of architecture. He is an artist 
more fitted for a Roman emperor than a Grecian general. He 
would have been adored by Diocletian, would never have met 
the fate of Apollodorus from Hadrian, might have designed the 
far famed gorgeous villa of the latter at Tivoli ; but would 
never have dreamed of such an heroic beauty as the Parthenon, 
whose baseless columns he despises. 

Mr. Nash is one of our ablest architects en gros, but not so 
en detail. His Regent Street, that we are now fresh from the 
relish of its merits, is a splendid work considered as a whole, 
and has produced the first and finest examples of variety in 
street architecture that our metropolis has witnessed; and he 
deserves to be installed the father of the style, although he is 
too much infected with Gallic gaudiness and flutter in his or¬ 
naments to be followed as a master of detail. There is not 
enough of repose and of contrast in them. 

A critical friend of mine, in a deceased journal, the News of 
Literature and the Fine Arts , gives it as his opinion that Mr. 
Smirke is in architecture the very nadir to the zenith of Mr. 
Nash. If the latter, he says, be a petit maitre in art, with 
buttons of every sort, and colours of every hue, with braiding, 
frogs and embroidery ; if his fagades exhibit windows and doors 
and capitals as various as if he intended every one of his 
buildings to be an architectural pattern-card for his travellers 
to exhibit for orders; the former is a quaker in architectural 
costume, and has neither collar nor buttons. 


150 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


Like Peter and Jack in the Tale of a Tub, he continues, one 
has added to the pure and unsophisticated art, which his father 
(Vitruvius) had left him, every frippery ornament, gewgaw, 
gilding and decoration that he could find allowable by his last 
will and testament; till at length sighing for more, he sealed 
it up, discarded it from its place in his library, and began to 
leave out or take in, more as his fancy dictated than as its 
conditions allowed, shafts, friezes and cornices as he pleased, 
with such admirable confusion, that his enemies named him the 
British Borromini. Whilst the other, at the same time, so 
stripped every ornament from his coat, buttons, lace and all, 
that the texture of his garment has suffered from his affectation 
of antique simplicity. In medio tutissimus ibis, may be said to 
both of these wayward directors of Metropolitan Improvements, 
with as much propriety by Vitruvius, the Magnus Apollo of 
our art, as ever it was by the beautiful son of Latona to the 
erratic Phaeton. 

Our critic farther continues, that among Mr. Smirke’s public 
works, his United Service Club House, which we are just ap¬ 
proaching, offers a fairer sample of this architect’s bald sim¬ 
plicity than any of his others; and that his dual building, the 
Union Club House, at the corner of Union Square, Cockspur 
Street, and the College of Physicians adjoining it on the north 
with the fine Ionic portico in Pall Mall East, is by far his 
best work. This portico is the finest adaptation on a large 
scale of the Ilissus example of any in the metropolis ; and is a 
great improvement on Mr. Dance’s similar portico to the Col¬ 
lege of Surgeons on the south side of Lincoln’s-inn-fields, inas¬ 
much as it has a well-proportioned pediment, and does not so 
much resemble an appliquee as that otherwise beautiful work. 
The eastern front, facing the square, has a receding or inverted 
portico of the same harmoniously beautiful order between, what 
my friend of the News of Literature and Art calls two of the 
most conventicle-looking wings in London. See the plate of 
the Union Club House and College of Physicians . They look, 
he says, like Simon Pure and Obadiah Broadbrim, with Anne 
Lovely between them, and he almost expects to see them lay 
their pious hands upon the half-quakered beauty to strip off 
the few tasteful ornaments with which she has embellished her 
fair form. The front of the Club House, next Cockspur Street, 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


151 


he calls, the real Simon Pure himself, neat as imported; collar¬ 
less, buttonless, frilless, ruffleless, and such as can give no pain 
to the faithful. If, however, it be a quaker, it is rather the 
tasteful Ruben Sadboy of that elegant actor Jones, than the stiff- 
rumped drab of Munden’s equally characteristic Simon Pure. 

In continuation of this architectural parable, its author makes 
up the third brother Martin, in the person of Mr. Soane, illus¬ 
trating his positions from the row of houses in Regent Street, 
which we have just left, his Bank of England, his Bank Build¬ 
ings in Lothbury, and a few others of his best works. To finish 
it, he observes, that Vitruvius left the testamentary laws or 
rules of conduct for his successors. That Peter, in ultra re¬ 
verence, has bedizened his person with so much frivolous deco¬ 
ration, as he affirms, from his father’s will, but so jumbled and 
huddled together, that his nearest relations do not know him as 
a disciple, much less a legitimate son of the venerable patriarch 
of the art. Martin , he says, has kept a tolerably steady course, 
and with the exception of a few pardonable vagaries, does not 
deserve to be disinherited by the executors ; but, that Jack in 
ultra peevishness at Martin s foolery, and to show his abhor¬ 
rence of his superfluous frippery, has stripped himself, even of 
every decorous and comely ornament. 

As our day is waning, let us proceed with our examination. 
The building before us, at the north-west corner of Charles 
Street, is the United Service Club House, a chaste and 
effective structure, by Mr. Smirke, The situation in which we 
now stand, is a very favourable one to enjoy a prospect of its 
beauties, contrasted as they are by the plain shop buildings on 
its eastern side; by Messrs. Nash and Repton’s colonnade of 
the King’s Theatre on the south, and by the Corinthian portico 
of the Haymarket Theatre in the distance. See the plates of 
the United Service Club House , the Haymarket Theatre , and part 
of the Opera colonnade from Regent Street ; and the Opera 

House and view of the Haymarket. 

The principal front of this subscription house, which is for 
the accommodation of the higher class of officers of His Ma¬ 
jesty’s army and navy, is in Charles Street, and faces the south. 
Its elevation is divided into three compartments; namely, a 
centre, which is ornamented by a tetrastyle portico of the true 
Doric order, and two slightly projecting wings. 


152 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


The entrance is under the portico, which is surmounted by 
pedestals and intervening iron work, by way of balcony. 
Above this are three plain windows and a long panel, which is 
decorated by a very elegantly designed and beautifully executed 
basso-rilievo, by Richard Westmacott, Esq. R. A. the newly 
elected professor of sculpture, and from whose lectures on his 
art I anticipate much information and pleasure in the ensuing 
academical term. The subject is Britannia distributing hono¬ 
rary rewards and distinctions to naval and military heroes. The 
union of the two services is admirably depicted, and the style 
of the sculpture is, in true accordance with that of the archi¬ 
tecture, a pure Athenian. 

The wings have plain windows in the ground or entrance 
story, and are surmounted by three semicircular-headed win¬ 
dows, connected by archivolts; over which are panels filled 
with sculptures in low relief of the beautiful foliage of the 
Grecian honeysuckle. The cornice of the building is plain 
and of the Doric species, supported by slightly projecting piers. 
The parapet is a sort of stylobate raised upon a blocking course, 
and is by no means so light and airy as a balustrade would 
have been. 

The front next Regent Street should be considered as a flank 
or subordinate accompaniment to the front in Charles Street. 
It is therefore in accordance with the wings, and forms an har¬ 
monious accessory thereto. Plain Athenian simplicity pervades 
the whole composition, which is highly creditable to the ac¬ 
knowledged taste of its able architect. 

Before we leave this spot, let us take a farewell leave of the 
remains of Carlton House, which once formed the southern ter¬ 
mination of this magnificent street. See plate of Regent 
Street, with Carlton House in the distance. When Carlton 
House, or Palace, stood on the southern side of Pall Mall, with 
ordinary dwelling houses only in front of it, its splendid portico 
and beautiful wings looked of sufficient consequence; but 
when these houses were pulled down and the loftier houses of 
Waterloo Place erected, and the rising ground of Regent Street 
opened, so that we looked down upon it, and saw the majestic 
towers of Westminster rising above it, it assumed a mean and 
low appearance. Its removal therefore is by no means to be re¬ 
gretted, and the fine opening that is made in its stead is one 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


153 


of the finest improvements in this spot of almost magical im¬ 
provements. 

The long round that I have taken you this day has, I fear, 
almost exhausted your patience; yet I cannot part from this 
scene of rapidly growing magnificence, without asking you, 
with how much more reason might Cowper now exclaim than 
he did a quarter of a century ago— 

“ Such London is, by taste and wealth proclaimed. 

The fairest capital in all the world.” 


154 


CHAP. IV. 

u In splendour with those famous cities old 
Whose power it hath surpass’d, it now might vie, 
Through many a bridge, the wealthy river roll’d, 
Aspiring columns rear’d their head on high, 
Triumphant fanes grac’d every road, and gave 
Due guerdon to the memory of the brave.” 

Southey. 


DESULTORY SURVEY OF SOME OF THE DETACHED IMPROVEMENTS—WATERLOO 

BRIDGE-THE ROUND TOWER—LONDON FROM THE THAMES-BLACKFRIARS 

-SOUTHWARK AND THE LONDON BRIDGES NEW AND OLD-THE LIME- 

HOUSE DOCK OF THE. REGENT’S CANAL-RETURN BY WATER TO SOUTH¬ 
WARK BRIDGE-PROPOSED ENLARGEMENT OF QUEEN STREET-THE LONDON 

INSTITUTION-TIIE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL IN FINSBURY CIRCUS- 

FINSBURY CHAPEL-BANK OF ENGLAND-ST. PAULAS SCHOOL-THEATRE 

ROYAL, COVENT GARDEN-RICHMOND TERRACE, WHITEHALL—THE NEW 

BRIDGE OVER THE SERPENTINE-STATUE OF ACHILLES-NEW LODGES AND 

ENTRANCE INTO HYDE PARK-ENTRANCE TO THE NEW PALACE, HY r DE PARK 

CORNER-THE NEW PALACE, AS NOW BUILDING. 

It may be as well, with regard to the new buildings now in 
progress upon the spot where we finished our last survey, that 
we follow the architect’s prayer to the critics, “ wait till, 
finished,” as nearly as possible, and await their arrival to a 
greater state of forwardness ere we conclude our inspection of 
them. 

Therefore, suppose we take a desultory view of some of the 
recent improvements, and as the day is fine, explore the dark 
and chilly recesses of the mazy vaults under the lofty terrace 
of the Adelphi, take a survey of that wonder of our times, Wa¬ 
terloo Bridge, then jump into a boat and view the city from 
the wealthy bosom of the silver Thames. 

Before we embark, let us first suffer that gaudy civic proces¬ 
sion to pass with its superbly gilt and emblazoned gondola 
barges, whose richly equipped rowers keep time with their oars 
to the beautiful music of the military band in the accom- 



































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


155 

panying shallop, and the fleet of little boats essaying to keep 
up with it. 

Now, as we are gently gliding upon the tranquil bosom of this 
chief of commercial rivers, before we pass under the magnificent 
arches of Waterloo Bridge, permit me to call your attention to 
that aspiring column near its southern abutment, whose lofty 
shaft, and turretted summit, smokes aloft in mid air, like a 
beacon. 

This beautiful tower, whose majestic and symmetrical propor¬ 
tions give a new and distinguished feature to this portion of 
the metropolis, is, with its bold and aspiring character, which 
resembles a 


-“ Tall shaft on some bold steep, 

Whose base is buried in the deep ; 

Rut whose bright summit shines afar. 

O’er the blue ocean, like a star.” 

Or, “a monumental pile,” 

Designed “ for Nelson of the Nile ! 

Of Trafalgar and Vincent’s heights, 

For Nelson of the hundred fights.” 

Croker. 

nothing more nor less than a manufactory for patent small shot, 
for the destruction of hares, rabbits, partridges and pheasants, 
on the same principle as the lately raised square patent shot- 
tower opposite Somerset House. That is of extremely good 
proportions, but differs from this, as being square in plan, and 
obeliscal in elevation, and is a truncated obelisk, surmounted by 
a spacious gallery, and an upper apartment for the service of 
the workmen. 

This, before which we are now so delightfully gliding, is, on 
the contrary, circular in plan, and slightly conical in elevation, 
being a lofty frustum of a cone of extraordinary height if con¬ 
tinued to its apex. The mode of manufacturing small shot in 
these towers, is, I believe, by pouring the melted lead through 
colanders in showers from the top to the bottom of the tower, 
where it is received in a vessel or tank of water. 

In the south of Ireland, a manufactory of small shot, on 
similar principles, has been recently established ; where, instead 
of erecting a lofty tower, the furnace is constructed upon the 
surface of the earth, and the fluid metal is poured into the 



156 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


bottom of the shaft of an exhausted coal pit. The reason 
why this tower is raised to such an height above the other, and 
for the raising of the other is, I am informed, that the higher 
the foundry is above the receptacle, the larger will be the size 
of the shot; on what principle of philosophy this opinion is 
founded, or even whether it be correct I am not prepared to 
say ; but our inquiries are on architecture, not on the laws of 
physics. 

The height of this striking object is about ninety-two feet, 
and it is of such a diameter and diminution as to render its 
form eminently beautiful. I was fearful, during its progress, 
that its ingenious architect, Mr. Roper, would have finished it by 
an echinus and abacus, like the vulgar atrocity of a steam 
engine chimney near Queenhithe, which the descendants of Sir 
Hugh Middleton have erected for supplying the good citizens 
of London with New River water, pumped from the bed of Old 
Father Thames, in the semblance of an Athenian Doric column, 
even under the nose of St. Paul, whose magnificent basilica, it 
daily contaminates with its filthy exhalations and more odious 
comparisons. Shade of Minerva ! avert thine eyes from Puddle 
Dock—look not on Queenhithe—pass by Dowgate—or thy 
bright virgin eyes will be profaned by a prostitution of one of 
the Parthenonian columns, whose manly form supported the 
grandest temple ever built, by the greatest architect that the 
world has ever seen, to the purposes of a steam-engine chimney, 
vomiting forth the obscene smoke of sea-coal from its crater, 
whilst its noble abacus is “ doomed for a time” to support a 
vulgar chimney-pot, instead of a marble entablature. 

u To what base uses may we come, Horatio.” 

/aid to such a purpose was I fearful that Mr. Roper ivas 
about to erect a column, but he has had the good taste to make 
it a handsome tower, instead of a useless tasteless column. It 
bears a striking resemblance to those extraordinary buildings, 
the ancient round towers of Ireland ; but falls very short of 
those beautiful constructions, in solidity of material, beauty of 
execution, and even in height. It is larger in diameter than 
many of those W'hich I have measured in Ireland ; and, there¬ 
fore, is proportionably fewer diameters high than most, and 
short of real altitude of many. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


157 


The round towers of Ireland, to which this bears so striking 
a resemblance, are among the most singular and disputable 
buildings, in regard to their origin, of any that have been left 
us by the ancients. They resemble one another in general 
appearance, and vary from 30 to 130 feet in height, and from 
thirteen to nineteen or twenty feet in diameter at the base. 
These singular and very handsome towers, which are mostly 
built of squared lime-stone or marble, open to men of leisure 
and erudition a spacious field for conjecture. Giraldus Cam- 
brensis mentions them as early as 1185; John Lynch, an Irish 
historian, alludes to them in 1662, and says that the Danes 
who invaded Ireland in the year 838 are accounted to have 
been the authors of these structures. A description of one 
may serve you for the whole, as they are so similar in form ; 
and I will take that of Monasterboice, which is situate about 
three miles from Drogheda. 

That fine tower is 110 feet high, which is nearly twenty feet 
higher than the one which is now rearing its head so loftily 
above us, and about seventeen feet in diameter; or, as I mea¬ 
sured it, exactly fifty-one feet in circumference at the base, and 
diminishing beautifully upwards, with a slight entasis, like the 
shaft of a true Doric column. The thickness of its walls, which 
are built of a fine blue compact limestone, found in the neigh¬ 
bourhood, is three feet six inches, beautifully wrought, and laid 
close with a very small portion of cement. The door, like most of 
the others, is much above the original surface of the surrounding 
ground, and six feet above the present. Like the shot tower 
above us, it has four apertures on its summit, which point to 

the four quarters of the horizon. 

It is not, however, the loftiest that I have seen; that of 
Drumiskin, in the county of Louth, being 130 feet in height, 
and only eighteen feet in diameter. The walls of the latter, in 
solid courses of stone, are but three feet six inches in thickness, 
and are built of fine white granite to about twelve feet from the 
ground, and the superstructure of well-squared and wrought 
blue limestone of the country. Its door is fourteen feet from 
the ground, and is covered at its summit by a conical roof of 
the same material. This one, before which we aie softly gliding, 
is built of hard stock brick, well laid in indurated cement and 



158 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


grouted, and is to be, I am informed, covered with a coat of 
Roman cement or stucco. 

We are now about to pass under one of the greatest boasts 
of our Metropolis, 

Waterloo Bridge. 

[See the print of Waterloo Bridge .] 

This grand and useful work, which M. Dupin, the celebrated 
and liberal-minded French engineer, called in his Memoir on 
the public works of England, “ a colossal monument worthy of 
Sesostris and the Csesars,” was produced by a joint stock com¬ 
pany. It was erected by the late John Rennie, from the de¬ 
signs, it has been said of the late Mr. Dodd; but that great 
schemer only projected the work, and took the design from Perro- 
net’s bridge over the Seine at Neuilly near Paris. Like the gipseys 
however, who disfigure the children which they steal, he defiled 
the simple beauty of Perronet’s design, by the addition of petty 
balustrades, and clumsy useless columns, with a most inappro¬ 
priate entablature. The execution of the bridge was entrusted 
by the company to Mr. Rennie, and he completed his task with 
skill and science. 

The columns are useless, because if the passage on the bridge 
be wide enough, the nuisance of recesses could not be wanted ; 
and if not, and such projections be necessary, they would be 
more economically and tastefully supported by piers, than by 
columns. The entablature is inappropriate, in having mutules 
under the corona, inclining upwards in their soffites as if they 
were the ends of rafters, or the inclined timbers of a roof; 
whereas, if they represent any thing, it is that of the ends of 
level joists or the horizontal timbers of the floor of the road¬ 
way ; and the balusters are more expensive and by no means so 
elegant as the low and tasteful parapet or blocking course, used 
by Perronet, and also by the architect of the beautiful bridge 
of the Holy Trinity at Florence. 

With the design, however, Mr. Rennie had nothing to do, 
and it is much to be lamented that an architect had not been 
employed for that purpose, that it might have been as original 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


159 - 

and elegant in design as it is scientifically constructed and 
well built. 

The act for incorporating the company, which is designated 
“ The Strand Bridge Company,” was passed in June, 1809. 
Under this authority they raised the sum of £500,000 in trans¬ 
ferable shares of £100 each, and had authority to raise a fur¬ 
ther sum of £300,000, by the issue of new shares or by mort¬ 
gage, if they should find it necessary. In July, 1813, the 
company obtained another act of parliament, by which they 
were authorized to raise an additional sum of £200,000; and 
in the session of 1816 they obtained a third act, which received 
the Royal assent in July, and invested the company with addi¬ 
tional powers. By this act the name of the bridge was changed 
from that of “ The Strand Bridge” to u Waterloo,” in honour 
of that great and decisive battle. 

The design as executed, consists of nine elliptical arches, 
with Grecian Doric columns in front of the piers, covered by 
an entablature, and surmounted by the anomalous decoration 
of a balustrade upon a Doric cornice. The road-way upon the 
summit of the arches is level, in a line with the Strand, and is 
carried by a gentle declivity on a series of brick arches, some 
of which are used as warehouses, over the road-way on the 
Surry bank of the river, to the level of the roads about the 
Obelisk by the Surry Theatre. The width of the river in this 
part is 1326 feet at high water, which is covered by nine semi¬ 
elliptical arches, of 120 feet span, and thirty-five feet high, 
supported on piers thirty feet thick at the foundations, dimi¬ 
nishing to twenty feet at the springing of the arches. They 
are eighty-seven feet in length, with points in the form of 
Gothic arches as cutwaters towards the stream. The dry or 
land arches on the Surry side are forty in number; thirty-nine 
of which are semicircular, sixteen feet in diameter, and one 
semi-elliptical, over the road-way of Narrow Wall, of twenty-six 
feet diameter. The entire length of the bridge and causeways 
is 2426 feet, made up of 1380 feet for the entire length of the 
bridge and abutments; 310 feet, the length of the approach 
from the Strand ; and 766 feet, the length of the causeway on 
the land arches of the Surry side. 

The first stone of this fine bridge was laid on the 11th of 
October, 1811, and the foundations of which it was a part, were 


160 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

built in coffer dams formed by three concentric rows of piles, 
similar to those now in use at London Bridge. In building 
these majestic arches, such care was taken by the able engineer 
under whose direction the bridge was built, that on removing 
the centres, none of the arches sunk more than an inch and a 
half; whereas those of Perronet’s bridge of Neuilly sunk in 
several instances so much as to entirely destroy the original 
curvature of the arch. 

Still, with all these perfections, the Waterloo Bridge might 
have been more economically and more beautifully constructed 
had it more resembled the original, whence Dodd drew his de¬ 
sign. Mr. Bennie in his subsequent design for London Bridge, 
which is now being superintended by his sons, seems to have 
so considered it, by making it more like the architecture of a 
stone bridge. 

Now let us proceed on our way, which brings us to one of 
the most picturesque views of the city from the Thames. Let 
us stay the boat for a few minutes by this float of timber, and 
closing our eyes, or rather turning our backs to the unseemly 
banks of the Surry shore, consider the prospect before us. Sec 
the print of London, inscribed to the Right Honourable (Aider- 
man Lucas), the Lord Mayor, the Court of Aldermen and Com¬ 
mon Council. 

The view from this spot forms a charming picture. The 
London side is principally embellished by the Temple gardens, 
which is to the city, what the parks are to Westminster. St. 
Paul’s, that grand monument of the munificence and piety of 
our ancestors, towers like a mountain over the lofty churches 
of the city that surround it as satellites. 

The spire of St. Bride rears its aspiring apex over the gardens 
and lofty chambers of the Temple with towering grandeur, and 
exhibits the daring power of its architect’s mind, by its striking- 
originality and inimitable construction. Not so elegant, or ar¬ 
chitecturally decorated as that of St. Mary le Bow, it is infi¬ 
nitely more simple, more chaste, and equally scientific in design 
and execution. Its stories of apertures one above the other, 
till it finishes by an elegant proportioned obelisk is equally 
novel and effective. St. Martin’s, Ludgate, with its dusky 
leaden spire, surmounting its white tower, breaks against the 
bright sky with great effect, and the white masonry of Christ’s 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


161 


Church, Newgate, contrasts with great effect, till the eye is 
carried with wonder and amazement at the grandeur of the 
metropolitan cathedral, which seems to sit upon the city as its 
basement, showing the entire of its upper order. The other 
spires and towers crowding each other, over the balustrades of 
the bridge, contrast in a curious manner, with the paucity of 
similar structures in looking over the western part of the metro¬ 
polis. The view is beautifully terminated by the Monument and 
its adjoining spires, and a good foreground object is obtained by 
the well-proportioned simplicity of the obeliscal shot tower, 
that has been raised considerably since the building of its loftier 
rival behind us. 


Blackfriars Bridge, 

Stretches across the picture, and terminates the view in a 
very fine manner. Being in shade, it forms a solid mass in the 
picture before us, contrasting with the sunny sides of the civic 
buildings, and the sparkling effects upon the entablatures of its 
Ionic decorations in a style that would fascinate the eye of 
Claude himself. The expanse of the brilliant waters, seen 
beneath its lofty semi-elliptical arches, and the busy scene of 
their living and ever moving surface increase the brilliancy of 
the scene. 

The first serious proposal for the erection of a bridge over 
this part of the Thames, was entertained by the Corporation of 
London, and discussed in the Court of Common Council in 
1753. At this time, there were only two bridges over the 
Thames in the metropolis; namely, the then newly constructed 
one at Westminster, and the ancient one called London Bridge. 
The corporation appointed a committee to take charge of its 
execution, to decide upon the best site and other matters con¬ 
nected with so important a proceeding. The determination of 
the site has been attributed to a pamphlet that was published 
in the following year, by a Mr. Samuel Dicker, called, “ An 
Essay on the many advantages accruing to the community, from 
the superior neatness, conveniences, decorations and embellish¬ 
ments of great and capital cities/' 8ec. &c. In this work, the 
corporation were recommended to arch over Fleet Ditch, and to 
build a new bridge from the avenue to be formed thereon to the 


1(52 . METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

opposite shore. This recommendation was ultimately adopted 
by the committee, and the corporation presented a petition to 
parliament on the 13th of January, 1756, which procured for 
them an act empowering them to build and maintain a bridge 
across the Thames at Blackfriars; enacting that it should be so 
constructed as to leave a clear water way of at least 750 feet j 
and that no buildings, except the proper gates and toll-houses 
should be built upon the bridge. The act also provided for the 
watching, lighting and regulating the amount of the tolls to be 
levied, and other necessary enactments for its completion. 
Upon the credit of these tolls, the Mayor and corporation 
were empowered to raise the sum of £30,000 a year, till the 
whole sum amounted to £160,000; as well as to fill up the 
channel of Bridewell Dock, between Fleet Bridge and the 
Thames, and to make sufficient drains and sewers into the 
river. 

The committee then took the necessary steps to procure de¬ 
signs and estimates for their intended new bridge, and at the 
investigation, gave the preference to those of Robert Mylne, 
a young architect, native of Scotland, who was then pursuing 
his studies in Rome, where he had greatly distinguished him¬ 
self, and had obtained the first gold medal in the class of archi¬ 
tecture. This able architect and engineer, to whose advice and 
instruction I am under the greatest obligations, when a youthful 
student of my art, was the first native of this island that ever 
obtained such an honour at the Vatican; and probably the 
first protestant who was ever so noticed by the head of the 
Roman church; as well as the first disciple of John Knox who 
ever bowed the knee before the scarlet lady of Babylon. 

Blackfriars’ Bridge is built on piles, the first of which was 
driven under one of the centre piers on the 7th of June, 1760, 
and on the last day of October, in the same year, the ceremony 
of laying the first stone was performed by Sir Thomas Chitty, 
the Lord Mayor, accompanied by the bridge committee, and 
other members of the corporation. In a cavity perforated in 
the lower stone, were deposited, as is usual on such occasions, 
several gold, silver and copper coins of the realm, and a silver 
medal given to the youthful architect by the Roman academy. 
Besides these, an engraved plate was also deposited, with a 
Latin inscription, commemorative of the public virtues of the 



Ti-awn "bjy Tho? 5. Shepherd. 


Engraved Jar Jingle. 


ST PAWS BASS CMUJBGIHI» WEST FIOHT. 


Jbbli&iied May 5.1827, by Jones Sc C° 3 .Acton Place Kindsland Koad London. 




































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


163 


first William Pitt, who was afterwards created Earl of Chatham. 
It was named in this inscription Pitt Bridge, and the square on 
its northern abutment Chatham Place; but the want of eu¬ 
phony occasioned the disuse of the abrupt sounding cognomen 
of the bridge, which has ever since been known by its local 
name of Blackfriars. 

From a tour to London, by M. Grosley, made while this 
bridge was building, we learn that the foundations of the piers 
were built in caissons ranged along the banks of the river, and 
afterwards placed upon the piling destined to receive them. 
This is a much less perfect and secure method, than by coffer 
dams as adopted by Mr. Rennie at Waterloo, and by his sons 
at London Bridge, and great difficulty is experienced in driving 
the piles. They are all, says Mr. Grosley, who describes them, 
as an eye witness, of equal height; but sink down unequally, 
according to the different sorts of ground. Before the caissons 
were placed, the piles were made regular by cutting them off to 
an equal height, by means of a saw constructed for this pur¬ 
pose with great ingenuity, and with which the workmen ope¬ 
rated under water with great speed and exactness. M. Grosley 
saw, he says, w T ith astonishment, that no wood but fir was made 
use of, either in the piling or the caissons. He was informed 
that the circumstance which determined the architect in this 
selection was the sound condition of some very ancient planks 
of this sort of timber, that were found in the bed of the river 
Thames, and much less decayed than oak. 

The bridge was so far finished, that a roadway for foot pas¬ 
sengers and horsemen was opened over it, about the end of the 
year 1768, and in the course of 1770 it was completed, having 
been nearly eleven years in building; whilst Waterloo Bridge, a 
work of considerably greater magnitude, was finished in six. 

From the accounts that were rendered by the bridge com¬ 
mittee, to the Court of Aldermen, concerning the expense of 
building this bridge, it appears that the sum of £166,217 had 
been paid on account of the bridge, including the expense of 
arching over and filling up Fleet Ditch, forming the road from 
Fleet Street to the south side of the river, and for other inci¬ 
dental works; making the net expenses of the bridge itself, ex¬ 
clusive of piling the foundations, to be £142,840. 

The bridge is built of Portland stone, a material much in- 

z 


164 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

ferior to granite, and is 995 feet in length from shore to shore ; 
the breadth of it between the parapets is forty-two feet, having 
a raised footpath seven feet broad on each side, and a carriage 
road of twenty-eight feet between them. It is constructed of 
nine semi-elliptical arches, the central one of which is 100 feet 
wide, being twenty feet narrower than all the river arches of 
Waterloo Bridge. Those on each side of the centre arch, are 
ninety-eight feet wide, the next two arches ninety-three feet, 
the next eighty-three feet, and the two arches nearest the shores 
seventy feet, leaving a clear water way of 788 feet; being 
nearly forty feet more than ordered by the act of parliament 
under which it was constructed. The piers are about twenty 
feet wide, and sixty feet long, with semicircular ends below the 
columns, and pointed ends at each extremity for cut-waters. 
The extremities of both shores, being lower than in the Strand, 
the architect of Blackfriars’ Bridge could not avail himself of 
the lofty northern bank, that Mr. Bennie had at that of Wa¬ 
terloo ; but was compelled to ascend to the summit of the 
centre arch, which was obliged to be of its present height. 
The road is therefore a segment of a very large circle, forming 
a curvature from one extremity to the other. The rise of this 
curvature has been recently diminished by raising the extre¬ 
mities, and diminishing the crown of the hill formed over the 
centre arch. The parapets are formed by piers and balusters 
surmounted by a coping, which being about the level of the eye 
of a man of ordinary stature, prevented persons of that height 
from seeing either under or over it. This difficulty is now ob¬ 
viated at the two ends by the recent heightening of the road¬ 
ways. The piers between the arches are decorated by columns 
of the modern Ionic order, and covered by an entablature run¬ 
ning through the whole composition, and breaking over the re¬ 
cesses on the bridge. These columns, and their corresponding 
pilasters behind them, are consequently of various heights, to 
suit the curvature of the upper part of the bridge, and are 
both unsightly and unarchitectural. The extremities of the 
bridge are rounded off to the form of a quarter of a circle, 
which extends the approaches in a handsome and convenient 
manner. Each end of the bridge has also two flights of broad 
stone steps, leading down to the river, for the conveniency of 
landing and embarking passengers and goods. On the whole, 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


165 

JBlackfriars’ Bridge is both novel and handsome in design, its 
elliptical arches are well suited to its situation and for space 
under them; but its material is bad and perishing, the curved 
line of its upper surface ill agrees, for the before-mentioned 
reasons, with its architectural decorations. 

Having now looked sufficiently long at this beautiful archi¬ 
tectural picture, let us proceed on our little voyage under this 
fine bridge; which, pitiable to see, is rapidly perishing between 
wind and water. 

The scene between the eastern side of Blackfriars’ Bridge is 
not at present particularly interesting, except from Bankside ; 
where the majestic southern side of St. Paul’s Cathedral rises 
over the dirty warehouses that disfigure this bank of the river, 
like an eastern bride seated upon a laystall. These disgraceful 
incumbrances should all be removed, and a quay like that which 
beautifies the banks of the Liffey, in Dublin, be substituted 
in its stead, if the magnificent project of Colonel Trench be 
not accomplished, in union with the plan, that I had the honour 
of submitting a short time since to a public meeting at the 
Horn Tavern in Doctor’s Commons, and which will ere long be 
again brought forward to free this grand national structure from 
the intrusive edifices that conceal its beauties. 

We are now approaching the beautiful and scientific con¬ 
struction that with three gigantic arches connects the two 
banks of the Thames at the end of Queen Street, Cheapside, 
and generally called, the 

/ 

Southwark Bridge. 

We will row gently under the northern arch, cross the river 
to Bankside, moor our boat to one of the piles, and take a 
general survey of this majestic bridge. See plate of Southwark 
Bridge, from Bankside. This bridge was designed by the late 
John Rennie, Esq. and executed under his direction. The iron 
work was cast at the great founderies of Messrs. Walker and 
Yates’ iron works at Rotherham, in Yorkshire. The magnifi¬ 
cent centre arch is composed of a segment of a circle whose 
chord or span is two hundred and forty feet, its versed sine or 
height is twenty-four feet, and the diameter of the circle of the 
curvature at the vertex or crown of the arch is six hundred 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


166 

and twenty-four feet. The height of the frame of the arch at 
the vertex is six feet. This arch is the largest yet executed, 
being of the same span as the great bridge over the Wear, at 
Sunderland, but which rises thirty feet. The chord of the arch 
of the great iron bridge, designed by Wiebeking, is two hun¬ 
dred and ninety-six feet, its versed sine twenty-nine feet, the 
diameter of the circle of the curvature at the vertex seven hun¬ 
dred and eighty-four feet, and the height of the frame of the 
arch at the vertex only three feet nine inches. The side arches 
even of the Southwark Bridge are two hundred and ten feet in 
span, which is several feet longer than the Monument by 
London Bridge is high. 

The arches are composed of eight ribs of solid masses of cast 
iron, in the form of the voussoirs of stone bridges. These ribs 
are rivetted to cast iron diagonal braces to prevent racking. 
The frames of the arches are six feet in depth at their vertices, 
and the extrados of the voussoirs extend to eight feet at the 
springing of the arches. Many of the single pieces of this 
gigantic skeleton are of the enormous weight of ten tons each, 
and the total weight of the iron employed in its construction is 
between five and six thousand tons. 

The piers and abutments are constructed of solid masonry, 
laid in alternate courses of vertical and horizontal bond, and 
composed of the Bramley-fall and Whitby stone. The piers 
are sixty feet high from the bed of the river to the tap of the 
parapet which comes up between the iron work. The roadway 
is formed of the segment of an immense circle, constructed 
upon the crowns of the arches, about fifty feet above low water 
mark. The spandrels are filled up with diagonal ties, which 
add both to the beauty as well as to the strength of the 
bridge. 

The foundations were laid in coffer dams, a mode of opera¬ 
tion, which Mr. Rennie has carried so near to perfection as to 
render improvements unnecessary, if not almost impossible. 
These coffer dams were upon a much larger scale, and consider¬ 
ably stronger in their construction than those which he used at 
Waterloo Bridge ; owing to the greater rapidity of the cur¬ 
rents, the greater heights of the tides, the difference of the 
bed in this part of the river, the greater span of the arches, and 
other circumstances connected with the peculiar construction of 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS, J 57 

the bridge. They were elliptical in plan, and were composed of 
three rows of piles of whole timber. Inside of the principal 
coffer dams, secondary auxiliary dams of parallelogrammatic 
forms were constructed of sheeting piles close to the bottom 
course of the masonry of the foundations, to secure them from 
spreading. 

This fine bridge, which is as elegant in its form as it is scien¬ 
tific in construction, was entirely built at the expense of a joint 
stock company, which it has become the fashion of certain 
narrow-minded scribblers to revile, from their recent terrific 
abuse, by overreaching speculators. Its cost, including its pre¬ 
sent inefficient approaches, amounted to about eight hundred 
thousand pounds. The preparatory works were begun on the 
23rd of September, 1814, and the first stone was laid by Ad¬ 
miral Lord Keith, on the 23rd of May, 1815. On the 7th of 
June, 1817, the first stone of the northern abutment, on the 
site of the ancient Three Cranes Wharf, was laid by Alderman 
Wood, the Lord Mayor, and the bridge was opened to the 
public in April, 1819. A road is formed on the Southwark side, 
which leads into the Borough High Street by the side of the 
King’s Bench Prison, and it is proposed to form a new approach 
on the City side. The recent fires on both sides of Queen 
Street, at the east and west comers of Maiden Lane, present a 
favourable opportunity, of which the corporation of London, 
and the proprietors of the bridge, will do well to avail them¬ 
selves. 

Without changing our stations, we may take a distant view 
of the works now carrying on for the New London Bridge, be¬ 
fore we pass under them, and the venerable arches of the an¬ 
cient bridge in our way to the eastern part of the metropolis. 
See how magnificently the lofty elliptical arches, of time-re¬ 
sisting granite, lift their exalted heads over the comparatively 
insignificant “ locks,” as they were termed, of its gothic neigh¬ 
bour. It reminds one strongly of Burns’ beautiful poetical 
apologue of “ The Twa Brigs of Ayr.” 

We must defer a more particular notice of this grand and 
useful undertaking, till it is in a greater state of forwardness, 
when my friend Shepherd, whose tasteful and correct drawings 
have so beautifully illustrated our little architectural tour, will 
make a drawing of it, in its finished state. 


168 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

After much discussion, the particulars of which I shall defer 
for the above reasons, a design of the late Mr. Rennie was 
approved, and an act of parliament obtained for its construc¬ 
tion in July, 1823. The first pile was driven on the 15th of 
March, 1824, and the first stone was laid by the Lord Mayor 
(Mr. Alderman Garratt), accompanied by his Royal Highness 
the late Duke of York, and a numerous company of the most 
distinguished persons of rank and science of the day. The 
coffer-dam presented on this occasion one of the most extraor¬ 
dinary appearances that I ever witnessed. The day was pecu¬ 
liarly fine, and the Lord Mayor had ordered the passage over 
London Bridge to be stopped for the day. The approach to the 
scene of action was therefore easy. A lady whom I accom-. 
panied on the occasion, when seated nearly forty feet below 
high water, could scarcely be brought to believe she was so situ¬ 
ated. Nor had I myself, when standing at the bottom of the dam 
which was boarded and covered by crimson baize, any means to 
bring such an idea to my mind, except the occasional pumping 
of the steam engine, which could only be heard between the 
intervals of a band of music, whose enlivening strains, added 
considerably to the influence of the scene. The timbers of the 
dam were also covered with baize, and seats made between 
them, which filled by well dressed men and beautiful women, 
surrounding in tiers the lower story that was left clear for the 
royal visiter and the corporation, had the appearance of a spa¬ 
cious amphitheatre. Awnings of ships colours, kept the piercing 
rays of the sun from penetrating the sub-aqueous assemblage. 
At the eastern end, a choir of charity children to sing God 
Save the King, at the conclusion of the ceremony, completed 
the picture. Fruit, wine and other refreshments, were liberally 
distributed among the visiters, at the expense of the corpora¬ 
tion. The stairs, passages and other approaches to the boxes, 
for to nothing else can I compare them, were as easy of access 
as those at the Italian Opera House. 

Nor was the scene on the summit of the dam less gratifying 
or exhilarating. The invited part of the company were ar¬ 
riving with rapidity, in splendid attire from their gay equipages 
which crowded every part of the bridge. Every wharf on 
either side of the river was covered, like bees in swarming 
time, with well dressed persons; the barges were equally 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 1(59 

covered, and the whole surface of the river was incrusted by 
boats of every denomination, decorated with colours, awnings, 
music and animated countenances. The arrival of the Royal 
Duke, and the civic authorities, with the bridge committee, the 
Messrs. Rennies, Sir Edward Banks, and other persons con¬ 
nected with the building of the bridge, was announced by a royal 
salute, and the military band playing God Save the King. 
The whole surface of the river resounded with huzzas, and 
the assemblage of distinguished persons, which lined the inte¬ 
rior of the dam to its lowest tier, rose to receive their royal 
visiter. The ceremony of laying the first stone, a beautifully 
wrought cube of Heytor granite, took place in the usual way, 
and the company dispersed to their respective homes without 
an accident occuring of any importance. The day was cele¬ 
brated also, by a magnificent dinner at the Mansion House, 
given by the Lord Mayor (Alderman Garrett), to the whole 
corporation, and the distinguished personages who took part in 
the ceremony. 

When we return to the proposed account of this fine bridge, 
on its completion, and to its ancient neighbour, it will be as 
well to refer to “ The Chronicles of London Bridge,” a work of 
much research and elaborate detail. 

A comparative estimate of the difference of water way, be¬ 
tween the old and the new bridge, is a curious document; and, 
as we are in full view of the two structures, it is appropriate to 
our subject. According to Nicholas Hawksmore, a scientific 
disciple of Sir Christopher Wren, who surveyed it with and 
for his master, the width of the river was nine hundred feet 
across, and that of the water way was only one hundred and 
ninety feet of this width, below the starlings, and four hundred 
and fifty feet above, at the time of high tides. A more recent 
survey, however, made by Mr. William Knight, the assistant 
engineer to the bridge in 1824, previous to the commencement 
of the new works, gives the water way between the piers above 
the starlings as five hundred and twenty-four feet; the solids, 
occupied by the piers, four hundred and seven feet; the water 
way between the starlings, at low water, two hundred and 
thirty-one feet; and the space occupied by the piers and star¬ 
lings seven hundred feet. While the water way of the new 


170 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

bridge will be six hundred and ninety feet at any time of the 
tide. 

The old bridge, therefore, forms a bar of considerable magni¬ 
tude across the river, the removal of which many persons of talent 
think will be injurious to the low lands up the country. Mr. 
Ware, the architect, in his valuable work on vaults and bridges, 
says it may be “ prudent to determine the levels of the wharfs, 
river walls and banks, and of the low lands westward of London 
Bridge, on both sides the river, in respect to high tides, as far 
as the tide runs, or may run in the case of the removal of the 
obstruction to it at London Bridge, and not trust to intuitive 
opinions, however eminent may be the persons who venture 
them, before such a river as the Thames is let loose from a 
bondage of some centuries on a populous neighbourhood, in 
low lands, occupied like the theatre of the Philistines at Gaza, 
in the confidence of its enemy being shorn of his strength.” 

Sir Henry C. Englefield in his “ Observations on the Pro¬ 
bable Consequences of the Demolition of London Bridge,” in¬ 
fers, from the different distances to which the spring and neap 
tides now flow, that the removal of London Bridge would occa¬ 
sion the tide to flow about three miles higher than it does at 
present. He deduces that the bridge, considered as a bar, has 
become, from lapse of time, an essential part of the river; that 
the bridge prevents the tide from attaining so high a level 
above bridge as it otherwise would do; that it checks, in a con¬ 
siderable degree, the velocity of the flood-tides ; that it pre¬ 
vents the tide from flowing so high up the country as it 
naturally would do; that the velocity of the reflux is in like 
manner checked; and that the water above bridge never ebbs 
out so low, by nearly the quantity of the whole fall, as it would 
do were the dam removed. That any additional depth at high 
water would be perfectly useless to the navigation; that the 
water way at the bridge at even common spring tides, rapidly 
diminishes by the water rising in the curvature of the arches, 
and of course to a greater degree when the influx is very great. 
That the current at present is sufficient to carry, in one tide, craft 
from the pool to the extent of the up-current, and lighters have 
occasionally gone from Gravesend to Richmond in a tide; that 
an increased velocity would not be beneficial to the navigation, 




































































































































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


171 


but on the contrary increase the hazard ; that wherries and 
small craft would not be able to make way against the stream 
as they can at present; that any alteration which tends to give 
the water of the river a quicker outfall, must injure the naviga¬ 
tion ; that the bed of the river near London will be nearly laid 
dry at the ebb of spring tides, and the silt from the sewers 
will have a much greater extent of shore to deposit itself on; 
that if the flood-tide ran stronger, the upper parts of the river 
would be choked with mud, carried up from London; and that 
less would be carried eastward than at present; for a more 
than ordinary rapid current now causes a more than ordinary 
deposition of filth. The scientific baronet anticipates that the 
low lands from Rotherhithe to Battersea, including St. George’s 
Fields, Vauxhall and Lambeth, will be rendered uninhabitable 
or unhealthy from damps and stagnant waters. He refers to 
the fact, easily to be shewn on a map of sewers, that the oppo¬ 
site shores of Westminster, from Privy Gardens to Ranelagh 
Gardens, was an island, and reasons on the injury the lower 
parts of the island may sustain. He anticipates injury also to 
the low lands on each shore of the river as high as Kingston. 

This important question will now very soon be decided, and 
at present very little difference can be found; for such parts of 
the dam as have been removed, by the taking away of two 
piers, all the water-works and other incumbrances, is compen¬ 
sated, at present, by the coffer dams and other works of the 
new bridge. 

Now let us proceed on our tour, and permit me to call your 
attention to the magnificent blocks of wrought granite that 
form the voussoirs of this stupendous undertaking, which is 
proceeding with a rapidity unknown in the history of modern 
architecture. The magnificence of this structure, and that 
still more magnificently decorated bridge of Waterloo, will 
carry the names of their opulent founders to posterity, with 
as much celebrity as the more ostentatious but less useful pyra¬ 
mids of Egypt. 

Mr. Ware, in his before quoted book, calculates that the cu¬ 
bical dimensions of the stone sunk to make the Breakwater 
at Plymouth, and of the stones, brick and timbei used at 
Sheerness, may bear a comparison with those of the great Egyp¬ 
tian pyramid “ If we are as ostentatious of our wealth as the 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


172 

Egyptians,” says this author, “ we apply it to works intended 
for the public benefit.” 

As the lock is open for the passage of that fine American 
brig, we can enter in her wake and inspect the dock. See plate 
of the Limehouse Dock, of the 

Regent’s Canal. 

The origin of this canal, which unites in itself both utility 
and picturesque beauty, arose from the important improvements 
on the north side of the metropolis, which it has been our 
recent business to contemplate. It was executed, like most 
of our grandest public undertakings, by a joint stock com¬ 
pany, constituted by an act of parliament passed in 1812. 
A canal for extending the conveniency of water-carriage round 
this part of London was projected about seventy years ago, 
but was never commenced. The opportunity afforded by the 
success of the Paddington Canal, as a branch of the Grand 
Junction, again excited the idea, and the plan of the Regent's 
Canal, was promulgated by Mr. Nash, architect to the Prince 
Regent, and projector of some of the greatest and most useful 
improvements of the day. 

The intention of this new line of canal, was for the purpose 
of extending the mode of communication by water-carriage 
from the Paddington Canal, and thence to and from every part 
of the kingdom whose lines of inland navigation were con¬ 
nected therewith, to the Thames at Limehouse. The directors 
of the company were empowered by their original act to raise 
the sum of four hundred thousand pounds, by proprietary shares 
of one hundred pounds each. After proceeding a short dis¬ 
tance from the Paddington Canal, by which its waters are sup¬ 
plied, it is conducted by a subterranean tunnel under Maida 
Hill, and is continued in a direction nearly semicircular round 
the northern side of the Regent’s Park (see the Plan of the Re¬ 
gent's Park), where it finishes behind Cumberland and Chester 
Terraces in a spacious basin, which is surrounded by wharfs and 
lofty warehouses. Near to the eastern extremity of the park, 
between the menagerie of the Zoological Society and St. 
Katherine’s Hospital, a side cut branches off under the outer 
road towards Islington. It crosses the Hampstead Road, under 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 173 

a bridge, near to which were formerly some locks on the hydro¬ 
pneumatic principle, for which Sir William Congreve had a 
patent. They have been removed, as not answering their pur¬ 
pose, and others on the usual principle substituted. The canal 
then takes a circuitous course through Camden Town, turns 
down towards the south-east at the back of St, Pancras Work- 
house, the Veterinary College, the burial ground of St. Giles’s in 
the Fields, the old church of St. Pancras, and the Small Pox 
Hospital; crosses Maiden Lane, forms a spacious basin at Pen- 
tonville, goes onwards towards Islington, under which village 
it is carried through a second subterraneous tunnel, which com¬ 
mences about two hundred yards to the westward of White 
Conduit House, and terminates on the east side of the New 
River below Colebrook Row. 

This tunnel is a very successful and curious example of this 
modern method of canal work, and is worthy the-inspection of 
the scientific. See plate of the double lock, and east entrance to 
the Islington Tunnel , Regent’s Canal. Viewed from a short dis¬ 
tance, such as from the intermediate space between the double 
lock, under the three-quarter elliptical arch of the Frog Lane 
Bridge, the western aperture in White Conduit Fields appears 
reduced to a point of great brilliancy, resembling a star sur¬ 
rounded by a halo of Rembrandtish darkness. 

The depth of cutting, which was necessary for its excavation, 
and the number of houses situated on the line of the canal 
rendered it impracticable to continue it in an open course. 
This circumstance made it necessary to carry it through a 
tunnel, which, as it had to pass under streets and houses, was a 
work of considerable difficulty and hazard. It is perfectly 
straight and level through its whole course, and is upwards of 
nine hundred yards in length. Its form is an ellipsis, eighteen 
feet in height, and seventeen in width, having seven feet six 
inches depth of water ; being capacious enough for two canal 
boats, or one river barge to pass at one time. It is securely 
bricked all round, eighteen inches, or two bricks length in 
thickness, with hard stock bricks and cement of the best qua¬ 
lity ; and every necessary precaution was taken by the architect 
and engineer, Mr. Nash and Mr. Morgan, to ensure its stabi¬ 
lity and durability. In its course from the Regent’s Park to 
the City Road, the canal passes under White Conduit Fields, 


I 


174 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

the Apollo Rooms and Gardens of White Conduit House 
Tavern and Assembly Rooms, Chapel Place, Union Square, the 
back and main roads of Islington, Rhodes, the great cow- 
keeper’s cow-houses and cow-lair, and the New River, which 
had its course turned to the westward, during the construction 
of that portion of the tunnel which passes under it. In course 
of the excavation, many exuviae of former organization were 
discovered, particularly fragments of the bones of some large 
animals, said to be those of the elephant, near to the eastern 
extremity. 

Islington was so pleasant a suburban village in the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth, that Strype records it by the name of Iseldon, 
commonly called Islington, a country town, hard by the road 
which stretches up beyond Aldersgate Bars, leaving the Charter 
House, on the left hand; “ which, in the former age,” says the 
old topographer, “ was esteemed to be so pleasantly seated, that 
in 1581 , her highness, on an evening, rode that way to take the 
air; when, near the town, she was environed with a number of 
begging rogues, which gave the queen much disturbance. 
Whereupon, Mr. Stone, one of the footmen, came in all haste 
to the lord mayor, and to Mr. Fleetwood the recorder, and told 
them the same. The same night did the recorder send out 
warrants into the same quarters, and into Westminster and the 
duchy; and in the morning he went out himself, and took that 
day seventy-four rogues, whereof some were blind, and yet 
great usurers and very rich. Upon twelfth day the recorder 
met the governor of Bridewell, and they examined together all 
the above said seventy-four rogues, and gave them substantial 
payment; and the strongest bestowed in the milne and the 
lighters; the rest were dismissed with a promise of double pay¬ 
ment, if they were met with again.” 

From this extensive village, which is much altered since the 
days when the maiden queen took her airings amidst its groves, 
and Raleigh quaffed his ale and smoked his Virginia at the 
house still called Queen Elizabeth’s Palace, the Regent’s Canal 
takes its course, through the meadows and under the turnpike 
roads of Hoxton, Shoreditch, Kingsland, Hackney and Bethnal 
Green, across the Mile End Road to Limehouse; on the west 
side of which is constructed the capacious basin, commodious 
wharfs and lofty warehouses which now surround us. At a 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


175 

spot called the City Gardens a long and wide basin is formed 
to the south of the canal, crossing the City Road, which is sur¬ 
rounded by wharfs and commercial establishments of great 
magnitude. See plate of the City Basin, Regent's Canal. The 
shed roofs, for covering the barges of some of these warehouses, 
produce a singular effect. 

Another basin for the reception of craft and other commer¬ 
cial purposes is also constructed, between Hoxton and the 
Kingsland Road, which is of great advantage to the neighbour¬ 
hood. 

The white building that sparkles so beautifully above the 
dark hull of that unloaded brig, is the tower of the church of 
St. Anne, Limehouse, a massy and singular structure, built by 
Hawksmoore the able pupil of Sir Christopher Wren, and archi¬ 
tect of the original and highly picturesque churches of St. Mary 
Woolnoth near the old Post-office in Lombard Street, and of 
St. George Bloomsbury. The church is one of the new 
ones, built in the reign of Queen Anne, and with its tower 
partakes, in a considerable degree, of the character of the ar¬ 
chitect’s other works. It was begun in 1712, and finished in- 
1724. 

As the tide is now flowing, and serves for our return, we will 
again pass through the forest of masts that covers the surface 
of the Thames; shoot under the lofty arches of the new bridge 
now building, and take an easy walk up to the improvements 
recently made in the vicinity of Finsbury Square. The light 
swing bridge at the entrance of the canal at this place is both 
ingenious and handsome. See plate of the entrance to the Re¬ 
gent's Canal, Limehouse. 

4 

This spacious circle of houses, with a stone building on its 
northern side, is called Finsbury Circus, and is built on the site 
of the city apprentices’ play-ground, the quarters of Moorfields. 
The building before us is 


The London Institution. 

We shall catch a better view of its beauties, in the present si¬ 
tuation of the sun, by walking round to the eastern side of the 


176 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


circus; as the light and shade will then be more various and 
picturesque from the circumstance that the shadowed sides of 
the columns, antse and porticoes will then be towards us. See 
plate of the London Institution , Finsbury Circus . 

The ground story is divided into an entrance hall, vestibule, 
stairs to the library and corridor leading to the lecture room, 
laboratory, &c., besides reading and newspaper rooms, the 
librarian’s private apartments and other rooms. The upper 
story is the library, which occupies the whole front. 

The elevation, which faces the south, and catches great pic¬ 
turesque variety from the sun, is divided perpendicularly into 
three principal parts or features; namely, a projecting portico 
of two stones, and two wings or continuations laterally of the 
front, with two minor sub-wings, corresponding with the lower 
order of the portico; and horizontally into two principal orders 
and three stories. The lower order is appropriated to the 
ground or entrance story, and is composed of a portico in antis 
of the Doric order, after an ancient example of very sturdy pro¬ 
portions. The entablature is carried through the whole line of 
front, and has wreaths of laurel leaves in the frieze substituted 
for the more characteristic triglyphs, which belong to the 
order. The front on each side of the portico is rusticated, 
and the apartments are lighted by windows, with semicircular 
heads. 

The upper stories are supported by the ground story, in the 
manner of a basement or pedestal story, and consist of a 
tetrastyle portico, of that species of the Corinthian order which 
Mr. Soane first used at the Bank of England, copied from the 
beautiful circular temple, called the Sybils’ at Tivoli. 

The sides are supported by antse between the windows, and 
an entablature surmounted by a well proportioned balustrade, 
the piers of which are ornamented by heads of sarcophagi. 
The whole front is in good proportion, and harmonizes with the 
adjacent buildings remarkably well. 

This flourishing and well governed institution was founded in 
the latter part of the year 1805, and was first opened in the 
January of 1806, at a temporary house in the Old Jewry, 
and afterwards at another in King’s Arms Yard, Coleman 
Street, where it was continued till the building of the edifice 
before us. In January, 1807, it was incorporated by Royal 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. ] 77 

Charter, its leading members being opulent merchants and 
citizens. 

The first stone of this useful edifice was laid by the Lord Mayor 
(Mr. Alderman Birch), on the 4th of May, 1815, accompanied 
by seveial of the Aldermen, and a large body of the proprietors. 
It was designed by William Brooks, Esq. an architect of talent, 
who has decorated the metropolis with other specimens of his 
skill. The length of the building is one hundred and forty 
feet, including the wings, which are sixteen feet each. The 
library on the one pair story is ninety-seven feet long by forty- 
two broad, and has a gallery on each side. The theatre, or 
lecture room, is sixty-three feet by forty-four feet, and has a 
laboratory and apparatus room attached to it. 

The chief objects of this institution, are the formation of a 
valuable library of reference; the establishment of reading 
rooms for newspapers, magazines, reviews and other periodical 
publications; the diffusion of popular knowledge in literature 
and science, by means of lectures and experiments, and occa¬ 
sional evening conversations on literary and scientific subjects. 
The books already collected are extremely numerous, and the 
library contains a great and well selected variety of scarce 
and valuable works, particularly in English topography and 
the fine arts. 

Just behind us, facing Liverpool Street, formerly Old Beth- 
lem, is the Roman Catholic Chapel; but, before we look at 
that gay structure, let us take a passing survey of Finsbury 
Chapel from the west. The composition of the principal front 
is laudably original and of pleasing variety. See plate of Fins¬ 
bury Chapel. 

The principal feature in this front is an elevated hexastyle 
portico of three-quarter columns of the Ionic order, standing 
on a rusticated basement, and crowned by a lofty entablature 
and a well-proportioned, pediment. The proportions of this 
order are modelled upon those of the beautiful little Ionic 
temple on the banks of the Ilyssus, near Athens, which is one 
of the purest and most elegant specimens of this graceful 
order. 

It is designed by Mr. William Brooks, the architect of the 
London Institution that we have just been inspecting. Two wings, 
which occupy the whole of the rusticated basement, and about 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


178 

two-thirds of the Ionic columns in height, form the entrances; 
and as they project beyond the main line of the building, they 
break the formality, and give a pleasing relief of light and 
shade. The entablature of the order is carried over the main 
wings, with the omission of the cymatium or sima, which, ac¬ 
cording to the practice of the best Grecian architects, was only 
used over the pediments. This member is always introduced in 
Roman architecture, in accordance with the systematized prin¬ 
ciple of Vitruvius; but in buildings of a severe chasteness, the 
architect will hot err who follows the practice of the best age 
of Grecian art, the age of Pericles. 

The inter-columniations of the Ionic order have apertures, 
formed by dwarf antse on a string course supporting an archi¬ 
trave cornice, which serve as the windows. The lower story is 
lighted by dwarf windows, with dressings, which occupy four 
courses of the rusticated masonry. The entrance doors in the 
wings are lofty, well-proportioned, and are ornamented on the 
jambs and lintel, with an architrave in accordance with the 
order of the building. They are covered by a cornice, sur¬ 
mounted by a blocking-course and an attic order of two pair of 
coupled antse; between which are inscriptions of texts from 
scripture. The composition is pleasing, full of variety, and 
possesses fewer technical faults than most of the new buildings 
in the metropolis. It was erected by a congregation of Protes¬ 
tant dissenters for the Rev. Alexander Fletcher, formerly of 
Albion Chapel at Moorgate. 

The building opposite to it is the Roman Catholic Chapel, 
which is one among the proofs which are daily occurring of the 
increased and increasing toleration of the age. Not half a cen¬ 
tury ago, no man in London dared acknowledge himself pub¬ 
licly to be of the Roman Catholic faith. The windows of the 
only chapel of this religion in an obscure part of the city, were 
broken and the chapel itself devastated, the property of the 
Catholics burned and destroyed, and the whole city rendered 
for days a scene of lawless riot, from mere suspicion of har¬ 
bouring papists; and now, on the contrary, the corporation of 
the first protestant city in the world not only allow a handsome 
public chapel to be erected in a conspicuous part of the city, 
but on their own private estate, and become liberal benefactors 
towards its erection and maintenance. Then on the opposite 



and 








































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


179 


side only of the street, a congregation of the strictest of the 
reformed church, meets it in peaceful fellowship; facing it, it is 
true, boldly with its boldest front, as John Calvin braved the 
Vatican. 

The best situation for viewing this richly decorated and florid 
example of ornamental architecture is from Liverpool Street. 
In which situation we are nearly opposite to it, and catch at 
the same time, an eastern and rather foreshortened view of 
Finsbury Chapel. See plate of the Catholic Chapel , Moor- 
fields. 

i 1 

The first stone of this chapel was consecrated, and laid with 
due solemnity on the 5th of August, 1817, on a vacant piece of 
ground, previously belonging to the corporation of London, and 
the two city companies of Fishmongers and Frame-work- 
knitters. The architect was John Newman, Esq., and the 
builders Messrs. Paynter and Haynes. The building was roofed 
in before Christmas, 1817, and the rest of the works were in an 
equally forward state. The columns, entablature, steps and altar 
table, were carved by Signor Comolli, a celebrated sculptor, pupil 
of Canova, and formerly professor of sculpture in the academy of 
Milan. The ceiling and elliptical wall, at the back of the Altar 
are painted in fresco by Signor Aglio, an Italian painter, who 
has been long domiciled in England. The cieling is in com¬ 
partments formed by panelling, and represents various subjects 
from the New Testament; and at the back of the sanctuary is a 
continuous painting of the crucifixion, comprising more than 
fifty figures. The marble altar-piece consists of six beautiful 
columns of the Corinthian order supporting an entablature, and 
raised upon a stylobate, both of which are elliptical in their 
plan. The order is selected from the choragic monument of 
Lysicrates, more commonly known by the name of the lantern 
of Demosthenes at Athens, and is beautifully executed in Como 
marble. The altar, in form of a sarcophagus, sculptured in 
Carara marble, is raised upon a series of seven marble steps. 
Upon this is elevated a tabernacle to contain the host, richly 
sculptured with ornaments emblematical of the sacrament. 
The picture at the back of the altar is lighted from behind the 
entablature by a concealed light, after the manner which the 
French call la lumiere mystevieuse. Six splendid candelabra 
stand upon the steps of the altar, beautifully executed by 

2 B 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


180 

Messrs. Gillows from antique models. The pulpit of large 
dimensions, elegant in form, and beautifully composed of satin 
and other ornamental woods, was presented by Lord Arundel. 
The painting of the ceiling and altar-piece was the gift of the 
late George Gillows, Esq., of Hammersmith; and a superb 
chalice and patina of fine gold, richly chased and ornamented 
with precious stones, of the value of five thousand Roman 
crowns, was presented by the late Pope Pius the seventh. 

The exterior of the principal front (see the print), is composed 
of three divisions, corresponding with the nave and two aisles 
of the interior. The central division which marks the nave, is 
composed of two columns in antis, and the side divisions which 
mark the aisles, of two pilasters of the Corinthian order, and 
with the columns make a kind of hexastyle portico, surmounted 
by an entablature and pediment, in the tympanum of wdrich is 
a group of two female penitents in alto-rilievo embracing a cross. 
Between the columns in the centre, and between the outer pair 
of pilasters, are large doors which lead to the nave and aisles, 
and the architectural fagade is raised upon a flight of steps. 
Over the centre doorway is a basso-rilievo representing the 
Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove, surrounded by 
rays of light. 

This front presents many blemishes and faults in architec¬ 
ture, quite unworthy the taste of London in the nineteenth 
century, but which I learn are not attributable to Mr. Newman, 
the architect of the interior, who had resigned his situation on 
finding himself overruled in matters appertaining to taste con¬ 
nected with this portion of the building. 

First, the unequal division of the columns and pilasters are 
m bad taste, producing a confused effect, which is pointed out 
more specifically by the dog collars in the frieze, which are of 
various distances. The whole front is shorn of its fair propor¬ 
tions by being built narrower than the building; the segmental 
heads of the doors are in bad taste and out of harmony with 
the order. The entablature is not Corinthian, although the 
columns and pilasters which support it are of that order. The 
architrave belongs to the Ionic order, having two facige; the 
frieze belongs to that species of the Doric used in the choragic 
monument of Thrasyllus, with the laurel wreaths distributed in 
unequal distances; and the cornice belongs as much to the 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS! 


181 

Ionic as to the Roman species of the Doric, having dentels 
which are used in both of those orders, and no modillions, which 
are peculiarly the property of the Corinthian order, and can 
never be omitted without a detriment to the essential cha¬ 
racter of the order. The corona moreover is disfigured by a 
row of balls, which were very fashionable a few years ago 
among the Me ry-le-bone plasterers, and resemble the biscuits, 
called by Mr. Le Man, of Threadneedle Street, “ Nelson's Balls." 
Who is the author of this constricted jumble of absurdities I 
know not, but am happy to learn that the well educated archi¬ 
tect of the rest of the building has removed the blame of its 
compilation from off his own shoulders. 

We will now proceed to that great national, and tasteful 
building, 


The Bank of England; 

and first, we will begin with the principal front next Threadneedle 
Street. See plate of the Front View of the Bank of England. Our 
best position to see this richly variegated, picturesque and beau¬ 
tiful front, will be from Bank Buildings: from which spot the 
circular corner next Princes Street forms a striking foreground ; 
the Royal Exchange on the right forms a good middle distance; 
the old church of St. Bartholemew a capital object, from its 
singular antique tower, for the distance; and the far-famed 
lucky lottery office of Richardson, Goodluch, and Co., from its 
solid form, and true Italian proportions of its Doric entrance 
story, (a design of Sir Robert Taylor's), and which is now 
in strong shadow, for a powerful relief and contrast in the 
foreground. Thus have we in one architectural picture, compo¬ 
sitions by three great masters in our art, Sir Christopher Wren, 
Sir Robert Taylor and Mr. Soane. 

The establishment of this great and important corporation is 
principally owing to the exertions of Mr. William Patterson, a 
native of Scotland, and Michael Godfrey, Esq. These two 
gentlemen, after labouring with great assiduity for nearly three 
years, at last obtained the sanction of government, and in the 
spring of the year 1694 the Company of the Bank of England 
was incoqmrated by act of parliament. Sir John Houblon was 


182 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


its first governor, and Michael Godfrey, Esq., one of its 
founders, its first deputy governor. 

On the first establishment of this great national undertaking 
its business was transacted in Grocer’s Hall Court in the Poul¬ 
try, and the ministers of the day gave it their support, because 
of “ the additional security for the allegiance of the people 
that must necessarily result from an enlarged proportion of the 
property of the country being thus brought within the certain 
controul of the ruling powers.” 

This great national structure, which has now become so great 
an ornament to the heart of the city, was erected at various 
periods, and without due regard to the uniformity of the exte¬ 
rior. The first stone of the original building on the present 
site, then the dwelling-house and garden of Sir John Houblon, 
was laid in 1732, and finished in 1736, from the designs of Mr. 
George Sampson, in the Palladian style of architecture. This 
building comprised the original centre next Threadneedle 
Street, that has been recently pulled down by Mr. Soane, and 
the present pay-hall, which is a spacious room seventy-nine feet 
in length and forty in breadth, with a statue of King William, 
in whose reign it was founded, sculptured by Cheere. The 
wings next Threadneedle Street, the exterior of the Rotunda, 
stock offices, &c., next Bartholemew Lane, and of the dividend 
and other offices next Princes Street, were designed and erected 
between the years 1765 and 1788, by Sir Robert Taylor, from a 
design in imitation of the celebrated garden front of the Pope’s 
palace in Rome, which is published in Sir William Chambers’s 
Treatise on Civil Architecture, as a design of Bramante, one of 
the architects of St. Peter’s at Rome. These wings were as 
different in style and composition from the exterior of Mr. 
Sampson’s central building, to which they were meant as appen¬ 
dages, as the Lothbury front erected by Mr. Soane in 1794 was 
from them both; and the exterior of the whole, which is com¬ 
pletely insulated, presented a great mass of heterogeneous, un¬ 
connected and discordant parts. 

On the death of Sir Robert Taylor, in 1788, Mr. Soane was 
appointed architect to the governor and company of this flou¬ 
rishing company, and he commenced his arduous duties by 
making himself acquainted with the actual state of the great 
structure which was intrusted to his care. He then prepared plans 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 183 

and models for constructing a new roof to the Bank stock office, 
which was found on a survey to be in a dilapidated and dangerous 
state, and so much decayed as to render repara tion impracticable. 
This new roof was proposed to be constructed upon stone piers, 
with arches springing from them; for which he prepared an 
estimate, and, under the direction of the building committee, he 
proceeded to carry the design into immediate execution. The 
roofs of the other stock offices, and of the Rotunda, were found 
to be so completely dilapidated as not to admit of repair. They 
were therefore taken down and rebuilt with incombustible ma¬ 
terials, no timber being used in any part of the new construc¬ 
tion. 

The Rotunda was rebuilt in 1795, by Mr. Soane. It is a 
circle of fifty-seven feet diameter in plan, and about the same 
in height. It is covered by a hemispherical cupola, and lighted 
by a lantern light, supported and divided by caryatides, con¬ 
structed upon the central aperture or eye of the cupola. The 
perpendicular walls are divided at regular intervals by semi¬ 
circular headed recesses, three of which serve for entrances, and 
the others for desks, &c. for the accommodation of the public. 
In this vast rotunda, the cupola of which from the outside has 
so striking and elegant an appearance, the general and prepara¬ 
tory business for the purchase and sale of stock is transacted; 
and the various offices appropriated to the management of each 
particular stock branch out from it, and from its classical ves¬ 
tibule, which opens from Bartholemew Lane. 

In the year 1800 the widely increased concerns of the Bank 
made an increased establishment, and more space for the trans¬ 
action of its business, necessary. The directors therefore made 
application to parliament for powers to enlarge their building. 
This was a favourable opportunity to render the exterior of the 
Bank one uniform pile, and Mr. Soane lost no time to embrace 
it. He therefore submitted to the committee of directors a 
series of designs, to extend the north or Lothbury front west¬ 
ward, and to connect together the whole of the old offices and 
those which they then required to be erected, in order that the 
exterior of the Bank might thereafter form one uniform appear¬ 
ance, which design they have just accomplished. The com¬ 
mittee approved this design, which, I remember, at the time, 
made a considerable figure in the Royal Academy exhibition, 


184 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

and a great impression upon the cognoscenti of the day, fiom 
the novelty of its arrangement and style of architecture, whic i 
was altogether new to the critics. This design has been acted 
on, without any deviation, excepting in the Lothbury front, 
where, after the old houses had been pulled down and the site 
cleared, the space being found insufficient for the portico which 
Mr. Soane originally proposed for the centre, it was unavoidably 
contracted to meet this unforeseen circumstance, and to its 
great detriment. See plate of the Bank from Lothbury. Had 
a portico of six columns of the Tivoli Corinthian been added 
to this front, as the architect intended, and as engraved in the 
thirty-third plate of his folio work of designs for public and 
private buildings, jnst published, it would have been one of the 
grandest and chastest elevations in modern executed aichitec- 
ture. In other respects I have the architect’s own authority for 
slating, that his general plan then submitted to the committee 
has been followed. Therefore the palm of merit, or the nettle 
of censure, in this case, is due to him alone. Of what propor¬ 
tions his wreath has to be composed, we will presently discuss, 
in a perambulation round this immense edifice, which covers an 
area of about eight acres. The whole of the exterior now pre¬ 
sents as much uniformity as could possibly be expected in a 
building of such extent, continued progressively, as Mr. Soane 
observes in his new work, as circumstances required, during a 
period of upwards of thirty years. 

The architecture of a structure like the Bank of England, 
standing in the very heart of the city, or commercial part of 
the metropolis, must always be considered as an important fea¬ 
ture among its public works; and should consequently exhibit 
grandeur, strength and beauty. The wealth of the company 
whose business is transacted within its walls, the celebrity of 
its architect, who for nearly half a century has devised 
and superintended the erection of its buildings, and the 
rank that he occupies in society as Professor of architecture 
in the Royal Academy, and therefore the chief teacher 
of his art, demand that the edifice which contains so im¬ 
portant an establishment as the Bank of England, should 
hold a prominent station among the public buildings of the 
metropolis, and deserves our attention accordingly. The 
directors have performed their duty, by leaving their archi- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


185 

tect so unshackled and by their liberal economy, for in this 
instance liberality is economy, in affording the best workman¬ 
ship, the soundest materials, and ample decorations. 

When Mr. Soane was appointed to the important office of 
aichitect to this wealthy corporation, the frivolous wings and 
petty style of Sir Robert Taylor were comparatively new, 
having been then recently erected at a very considerable expense. 
Mr. Soane, as I have just mentioned, began his operations by 
producing a design for an amalgamation of the heterogeneous 
fragments of his predecessors, with a foresight that a long life 
and perseverance have just accomplished; and in a style of 
architecture at once masculine, appropriate and novel. 

The architectural character of our public buildings, had, at 
that moment, declined from the boldness of style and substan¬ 
tialness of execution of Inigo Jones, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir 
John Vanburgh and other eminent architects of the Roman 
and Italian schools; and were succeeded by the Dioclesian va¬ 
garies of the Adams’s buildings in and about the Adelphi, 
and the tame imitations of the Grecian styles by Stuart the 
painter, who so ably assisted his architectural associate Revett, 
in measuring and delineating the ruins of the finest architec¬ 
ture which the world has ever witnessed, in their unrivalled 
“ antiquities of Athens.” 

Mr. Soane, in the structure before us, which, like the villa of 
Hadrian at Tivoli comprises many buildings, introduced into 
this country the manly and beautiful order of the circular tem¬ 
ple at Tivoli, which he measured and delineated during the 
completion of his professional studies in Italy with praiseworthy 
care and accuracy. It is an order of such peculiar originality, 
and so unlike every other existing example of the Corinthian, 
that my friend Mr. W. H. Leeds, in a very able criticism 
upon it in the second volume of Britton’s Illustrations of the 
Public Buildings of London, says, “ that did we admit the now 
almost exploded doctrine of there being more than three orders, 
we should not hesitate to term this a sixth , so different is it from 
every other specimen of the Corinthian.” In this grand edifice 
the architect has given a beautiful adaptation of a portion of 
this exquisite architectural gem, (which Claude has introduced 
for its endless beauties in many of his works,) in the round 
corner between Princes Street and Lothbury; and has carried 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


186 

on his bold design upon a lofty base, emulating the beauties of 
his predecessor Vanburgh, whose talents Mr. Soane has often 
honoured in his lectures, and who never suffered his buildings to 
rise abruptly from the earth, like potatoes bursting from the 
soil; but always gave a preparatory base for them to stand 
upon. 

For this reason I take leave to infer, with all deference to our 
Professor, that when he commenced the north or Lothbury 
front, he scarcely contemplated that he should ever be per¬ 
mitted to carry it on to the principal elevation in Threadneedle 
Street: because the difference in levels deprives the latter of a 
great portion of this admired beauty, its lofty zocle or stylobate. 
The consequence is, as you may perceive by comparing the two 
elevations, that the same order and altitude which looks so 
grand, noble and imposing in effect next Lothbury, looks far 
less so in the other. 

The general character of the entire building, as now com¬ 
pleted, is that of stability and strength, harmony and apt deco¬ 
ration, and above all, appropriateness, or fitness of its means to 
its ends. It is an irregular rhomboidal figure, measuring about 
three hundred and sixty-five feet on the south or principal front, 
four hundred and forty on the western side, four hundred and 
ten on the northern or Lothbury front, and two hundred and 
forty-five on the eastern flank, next Bartholomew Lane. This 
area comprises nine open courts—the rotunda, numerous public 
offices of spacious dimensions and elegant architecture, a court 
room, committee room, directors’ parlour, an armoury, a printing 
office, and privaf a apartments for the residence of officers and ser¬ 
vants of the establishment. The principal apartments are on the 
ground floor, and there is no upper story over the chief offices, 
which are all lighted from above. In the basement story are 
numerous rooms, and fire-proof vaults for the conservation of 
bullion, coin, notes, bills and other securities. This depart¬ 
ment of the Bank reminds me of an epigram that was written 
about the time the directors suspended payment in gold, and 
enlarged the dimensions of their building. It is also Connected 
in subject with London Bridge, which a vulgar tradition reports 
was built upon woolpacks. This tradition, combined with the 
large issue of one and two pound notes by the Bank, gave 
it birth. 



\ 





HYDK PARK COPJNLR. 

Published July 7. 1827. by Jones Sc C°3.Acton Place. Kind’sland Road. r .ondoii 


f 






















































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 187 

It runs as follows :— 

No more, O Thames ! o’er thy broad stream, 

Shall London Bridge, with boastful theme. 

About its woolpaclc basis vapour ; 

For lo ! in our eventful time, 

A mightier fabric towers sublime, 

Whose deep foundations rest on paper .” 

This vast architectural pile being now completed, as far as 
the exterior arrangement goes, we will take a general survey of 
its impressive exterior, and begin with the principal front in 
Threadneedle Street. See Engraving. 

This front faces the south, and has consequently a greater 
variety of light and shade than either of the others, and has 
moreover the advantage of never (at least in the hours of busi¬ 
ness), being in positive shadow. It is one of the most elabo¬ 
rate, gay and gorgeous architectural compositions of the present 
day; and I doubt if it has its superior in Europe. 

It is composed of three principal parts or divisions, a centre 
and two wings; each of which again have their own triads, a 
centre and two subordinates. The centre of this front is an 
octastyle portico of the Tivoli Corinthian order, which, from the 
narrowness of the street and the importance of the thorough¬ 
fare, does not project so far from the body of the building as 
could be wished for an imposing effect. Yet this difficulty is 
conquered in a masterly manner, as I will presently endeavour 
to shew. 

The frieze is decorated with the square Greek fret, which, in 
the great extent of the front, is more elegant than the bulls’ 
heads and swags of foliage of the original, which Mr. Soane 
has introduced at the circular corner near Lothbury with 
becoming effect, as we shall see when we go round to that 
front. The cymatium has lions’ heads projecting from beneath 
its fillet, and hanging over the corona, perpendicularly above 
the centre of each column. The upper blocking-course breaks 
over each column and antse, and is surmounted by acroteria, 
sculptured with representations of the Grecian honeysuckle. 

Over the columns of the central portico are elevated a series 
of semicircular-headed acroteria, each face being similar; and 
on the crowns of the six central ones are raised a pyramidal 
ornament of great originality and beauty. Behind these 
sculptural ornaments is elevated an attic story with antte, and a 

2 c 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


188 

continuous cornice, with a blocking-course breaking over them. 
Over each of these is raised an acroterium, on the six central 
ones of which are placed vases of a lofty form, which give a 
sufficiently pyramidal appearance to the centre. Between the 
columns are three entrance doors and five blank windows, all of 
which have semicircular heads in correspondence. Above those 
is a row of square low windows, lighting a mezzanine story, and 
a row of loftier windows between the an tee of the attic story. 
This front, it should be observed, is an adaptation to the stories 
and windows of Sampson’s old building, and should therefore 
not be examined with that severity, as if it was an entirely 
original composition. 

The wings of this front are erected as facades to those built 
by Sir Robert Taylor, and possess an originality of design, and 
a beautiful playfulness of details, occasioned by a due mixture of 
perpendicular and horizontal lines, of columns and antse, of 
plain and sculptured mouldings, and of other legitimate modes 
of producing picturesque variety, as is scarcely equalled in 
modern architecture. 

The centre of each of these wings is designated by a hexa- 
style inverted portico, of the same order of columns as the 
centre of the building, constructed in antis. The antse have 
again their centres marked by a deeper recess than the side 
interpilasterings, which are again strongly marked by a large 
and lofty blank door. The side interpilasterings have square¬ 
headed niches with architrave dressings below and panels 
above, and the surface of the wall between these decorations 
has the courses of masonry marked by channelled rustics. 
The cymatium is embellished with lions’ heads similar to the 
centre building, and the upper blocking-course breaks over 
every column and antse. The columnar part of the composi¬ 
tion is backed by a continuation of its recessed wall, carried up 
above a row of six honeysuckled acroteria, and crowned by a 
sub-cornice. The four antse have a species of detached pilas¬ 
ters or square acroteria raised upon the upper blocking-course, 
marked with channelled sinkings, and covered with small pedi- 
mental caps ; and their intervals filled in with semicircular¬ 
headed recesses. The entire composition of this front is sepa¬ 
rated from the flanks by a portion of wall, marked only with 
rustics, and continued or connected to the other fronts by cir¬ 
cular comers of peculiar beauty and originality. 


METROPOLITAN 1M P ROVEMENTS. 


189 


The two comers that connect this rich and elaborate design 
with the east and west fronts are alike, and form beautiful ter¬ 
minations to the composition. They are also complete in them¬ 
selves, being composed of two columns in antis, and four antre, 
two on each side of the columns. The centre between and be¬ 
hind the columns recedes, and the portion of building between 
the antse is almost flush with them. The square-headed niches 
are continued between them, as are the panels and channeled 
rustics. The frieze is decorated with the same ornamented fret 
as the rest of this front, and the central part over the middle 
intercolumniation has a raised acroterium surmounted by a sar¬ 
cophagus head composed of two double scrolls and a shell. 

The chimneys of the central building are built of separate 
shafts to each flue, and ornamented by sculpture and mouldings, 
after the manner of the Italian architects, as seen particularly 
at Venice and Genoa. 

The whole of this front (see the Print), is composed in a 
florid and highly ornamental style; rich, gay, and, when inves¬ 
tigated part by part, not over crowded. Relief, by projections 
and recesses— variety, by picturesque combinations of beautiful 
parts— harmony, by an adoption of just proportions, and pictur¬ 
esque beauty, by a showy display of the richest ornaments, are 
the leading characteristics of this splendid elevation, which is 
not surpassed for taste and all the essentials of grandeur in ar¬ 
chitecture, by any in the British metropolis. 

Its style designates its use; its solidity and want of external 
openings shews it to be a place where strength and security are 
required ; its ornamental style shews its owners to be wealthy 
in means and splendid in ideas, and its whole composition shews 
it to be an appropriate edifice for such a national establishment 
as that of the Bank of England. 

We will now take a look at the east front. See Plate of the 
East Front of the Bank of England from Bartholomew Lane. This 
front is the least extensive of the four, being only two hundred 
and fifty feet in length. Its centre is marked by an octastyle in¬ 
verted or recessed portico in antis, similar to those of the wings in 
the south front. On each side of this portico are lofty doorways, 
corresponding in size, style and decoration with those in the 
above-named front. The square-headed niches, panels and 
channelled rustics arc repeated, and produce a pleasing uni- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


190 

formity of style and unity of composition, that is peculiarly 
agreeable to the eye of taste. It has but one entrance on this 
side, which leads to the stock offices, and through the rotunda 
into the numerous other courts and offices of this extensive 
building. The subject of the composition is taken up on the 
northern side of the circular end, from which it is divided, by a 
bar of plain rusticated walling as before, that gives a suffici¬ 
ently detached appearance to the design, while it connects it 
with the main body or subject of the work. 

Another similar rounded corner carries on the eye to the 
north front of this commanding edifice. See plate of the Bank 
of England from Lothbury. 

The north or Lothbury front of the Bank is four hundred 
and twenty feet in length, which is nearly sixty feet longer than 
the south principal front next Threadneedle Street. It is very 
different in character from that florid and highly decorated ele¬ 
vation, although of the same order and similar in style. High 
decoration is the characteristic of that; simplicity, breadth 
and boldness of this. Not that breadth which Fuseli said any 
one could attain—namely, baldness and insipidity ; but a mas¬ 
terly breadth obtained by an artist-like use of a few simple 
and vigorous materials, boldly put together and scientifically 
treated. 

The level of the street in Lothbury being lower than that o* 
Threadneedle Street, the elevation of this front is consequently 
higher. It is raised, as I have before mentioned, upon a lofty 
solid plinth, which gives a grandeur to the order that the other 
front wants. The centre of this front is composed of a slight 
projection of four antae, similarly composed and decorated with 
those in the principal front. It is much too small and insigni¬ 
ficant for a centre to such a length of elevation; but Mr. Soane, 
in his before-mentioned new work, plate 33, has given an ele¬ 
vation of this front as he originally intended it, which was 
with a hexastyle portico of columns raised on a moulded stylo¬ 
bate, and covered with a well proportioned pediment. This 
was omitted when the old houses that formerly incumbered the 
north-west angle of this edifice were pulled down, and the 
space being found insufficient for the portico, the centre was un¬ 
avoidably contracted to its present narrow span to meet this 
unforeseen circumstance. Above these the architect has raised 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. \${ 

a balustrade upon a lofty blocking-course, and over the centre 
interpilastering a beautiful little attic, covered by a pediment, 
and decorated by graceful panels and sinkings on the acroteria * 
over the centre ant® are two elegant vases. True it is that this 
is but a sorry and an insignificant centre, and one that is to¬ 
tally unworthy to be added to such a building as this, and by 
such an architect as Mr. Soane. But after his explanation, 
which I have before mentioned, we are bound to admit that he 
has got over the error of beginning at both ends and ending in 
the middle, in an artist-like manner, and that his apology is 
satisfactory. 

On each side of this apologetical centre, at a distance of 
three of the before-mentioned square-headed niches, are lofty 
arched gateways, one of which opens into that splendid archi¬ 
tectural scene, the Lothbury court, and the other into a more 
private portion of the edifice. 

These doors are richly decorated, with an architectural 
dressing of two columns between two ant® on each side of 
them. The recesses and intercolumniations are decorated simi¬ 
larly with those in the south front, but the frieze is plain, and 
the cymatium without the lions’ heads. The doors themselves 
are ornamented by a continuous architrave to the jambs and 
Read, which is surmounted by a frieze, a cornice and an ele¬ 
gantly formed pediment of that low proportion which consti¬ 
tutes the charm of this portion of Grecian architecture. The 
walls have their courses of masonry indicated by channelled 
rusticating; the intercolumniations are relieved by square-headed 
niches, panels and rustics, and the niches themselves are dressed 
with architraves and cornices. The rustics of the centre por¬ 
tion, for some reason that I could never divine, have the per¬ 
pendicular, or cross joints of the masonry indicated, which is no 
where else observed in any part of the exterior of this classical 
edifice. 

The cornice, which is continuous and without any breaks, 
except over the large projecting and principal portions of the 
composition, is surmounted by two blocking-courses, the upper 
one of which is broken into a sort of plinth, wherever a column 
or antae would have come, had such portions of the order been 
introduced. These plinths support honeysuckled acroteria, 
which produce a lively effect by variety. 


j()*2 " METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

The grand divisions of this architectural screen, for it is 
nothing more, have attics raised upon the blocking-course. 
This story is beautifully proportioned, has broad channelled antse 
over each of the four columns, which are crowned by an appro¬ 
priate cornice, sarcophagus heads and moulded panels. r lhe 
effect of this grand and simple composition is imposing in the 
extreme, is highly characteristic of its purpose and appropriate 
to its destination. It is indeed as characteristic of a national 
bank, as the most appropriate and characteristic piece of archi¬ 
tecture in England, namely, the Old Bailey front of Newgate, 
is of a criminaTs goal. 

We will now pay a visit to the west front, that next Princes 
Street, which is the longest of the four, being four hundred and 
fifty feet in length. See the View. 

As the angle between this and the north front presents a very 
acute form, it would have had a very awkward effect if it had been 
merely rounded like the others. To conceal this ungraceful form 
Mr. Soane has had recourse to a very artist-like stratagem, and 
has concealed its obliquity by forming a circular portico from a 
portion of the Sybil’s temple at Tivoli, and by a projecting sub- 
portico in each front. These smaller porticoes forming right 
angles with the two main fronts, and embracing the circular 
part of the temple between them, take off all awkwardness 
and give an appearance of Claude-like grace to what in ordinary 
hands would have been an inelegant and clumsy joining of two 
beautiful fagades. The coupled columns, which stand as two 
sentinels guarding the approach to the shrine, support the en¬ 
tire entablature, with the singidarly boldly sculptured frieze of 
the original; which goes over no other part of the elevation 
than this circular portico, and its two double-columned sub¬ 
porticoes which support it. The front columns are fluted, which 
gives great richness to the fagade, and the two columns in the 
rear are plain. The blocking-course of the coupled columns 
is embellished by upright vases of extremely elegant forms, 
which carry the eye upwards to the singularly beautiful attic 
that surmounts the main wall of the building. This portion of 
the building is decorated by one square and two parallelo- 
grammatic panels, and is surmounted by a sarcophagus top, 
composed of scrolls and shells. The back part of the circular 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. }Q3 

portico is also surmounted by a beautiful attic, composed 
of panelled attic-pilasters, and swags of fruit and foliage, 
and crowned by a very harmoniously proportioned pediment, 
with acroteria of honeysuckles on its apex and extremities. 
Altogether this beautiful corner and circular portico, is one of 
the most striking and original pieces of modern architecture in 
Europe, and is worthy of being placed by the side of Inigo 
Jones’s water-gate at York Buildings, and Sir Christopher 
Wren’s circular portico of the south transept of St. Paul’s 
Cathedral, as gems of the art. 

This takes us round to the west front next Princes Street. 
The reigning character of this fagade partakes of a general re¬ 
semblance to the entire design, but with a tendency towards 
the style of the north front. Its great extent, its largeness of 
parts and simplicity of decoration, gives this elevation a majestic 
and treasury-like appearance. It is perforated but by one 
opening, and that is a doorway fit for a citadel. Over this 
portion of the building rises an attic, with an arcade of small 
open arches, covered by a pediment similar in style to that over 
the circular portico just mentioned. 

Before we leave the Bank let me call your attention to one 
of the most elegant architectural features of the building, the 
square called the Lothbury Court. 

This cortile is not of large dimensions, but it is most impres¬ 
sive in effect. On each side is a portico of four columns in 
antis of the Tivoli-Corinthian order. That on our left, on en¬ 
tering from Lothbury, has a recessed portico with a large he¬ 
mispherical pavilion that leads to various offices. The columns 
are surmounted by lofty-proportioned vases, the antse by attic 
pilasters, and the back of the portico by an attic embellished 
with panelling. The opposite portico is open, and leads to other 
offices, from which circumstance it looks like an unfinished part 
of the entire design. 

Directly facing us, the composition is formed by a lofty arch¬ 
way in the centre, which leads to the Bullion Court. On either 
side of this arch are two columns of the same order which pre¬ 
vails throughout this building, and on each side of them a large 
semicircular window that rather detracts from the unity and 
the solidity of the design. These four columns are elevated on 
two lofty stylobates, and the entablatures over each breaks, as in 


]94 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

many Roman and Italian specimens. These are surmounted on 
blocking-courses and acroteria, by statues of the four quarters 
of the world, behind which rises a lofty attic crowned by 
honeysuckle acroteria, and a pedestal upon which the architect 
designed, as may be seen in the forty-sixth plate of his re¬ 
cently published work, a statue of Britannia in a car drawn by 
lions. Between the figures are sculptured representations of 
the caduceus of Mercury as emblematical of wealth. 

I have kept you a long while in and about this grand edifice, 
but its magnitude, beauty and consequence must plead my 
excuse. 

In our return to the western part of London—for I reckon in 
that single word London, the city so called, that of West¬ 
minster, the princely parish of St. Mary-le-bone, and the 
borough of Southwark; in short, the Metropolis —we will make 
a halt before 

St. Paul’s School, 

the work of my old and esteemed friend and fellow student, 
George Smith, Esq. See view of St. Paul’s School. This 
scholastic establishment is, I believe, the most ancient of the 
regular foundation schools in the metropolis, being founded in 
1509 by Dr. John Colet, Dean of St. Paul’s, who was a son of 
Sir Henry Colet, Knt. twice Lord Mayor. It was instituted for 
the free education of one hundred and fifty-three boys under 
certain regulations, and its ample endowments are placed under 
the management of the Mercers’ Company as trustees. The 
school is divided into eight forms or classes, in which the boys 
are progressively advanced from the first to the eighth. They 
are generally taught Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and the ablest 
are initiated in oriental literature. A certain number of the 
head boys are annually sent to the university on exhibitions to 
defray a portion of the expenses. In 1822 their old building on 
the same site was taken down, together with several adjoining 
houses, and the present edifice, on a much larger scale than the 
former, was erected in its stead. 

If we go to the south side of the most magnificent of pro- 
testant cathedrals, we shall catch a good perspective view of the 
new school, and its attached buildings for the residences of the 








































































































































































































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


195 

masters and other officers of the establishment. See the view. 
I he houses that project at the north end will, I hope, all come 
down for the proposed improvements round the cathedral, as 

well as those whose unsightly wails conceal half of the southern 
wing. 

The building is composed of three principal parts, a centre 
and two wings, connected by a continuation of the main body. 
The centre is a hexastyle portico of the Tivoli-Corinthian order, 
elevated upon a rusticated basement of solid piers, one of which 
stands under every column, and leaves a footway for passengers 
between them. Ihe wings are elevated on a similar basement, 
the apertures between the piers being converted into doors and 
windows. On these are raised an attached portico of two three- 
quarter columns in antis. The antae are copied nearly from 
those at the Bank of England, but are rather bolder in execu¬ 
tion. The entablature is similar to that of the circular temple 
at Tivoli, so beautifully applied by Mr. Soane in the before- 
named building, and the bold frieze of oxen’s heads and foliage 
is continued through the whole front. The wings project the 
width of an antis, but the centre projects an entire intercolum- 
niation more, and finishes with antse against the wall to sup¬ 
port the entablature. The basement or entrance story is a con¬ 
tinuation of the same arrangement as the wings and centre, the 
openings between the rusticated piers being used for windows 
and entrances to the master’s houses. The centre is appropri¬ 
ated to the school, and has lofty windows between the columns. 
The same height in the wings and intermediate portion of the 
building is divided into two stories, the lower of which has 
lofty well-proportioned sash windows, dressed with architraves 
and surmounted by entablatures, and the upper, square attic 
windows, with architraves on the tops, sides and sills. The 
wings are surmounted by blocking-courses and acroteria upon 
the cornices, and the centre by a low attic and acroteria, upon 
the summit of which rises a cupola, in too fragile a style of de¬ 
coration to accord well with the manly proportions of the rest 
of the building. 

This building loses half of its effect by the overpowering 
contiguity of its colossal neighbour, which renders it in com¬ 
parison low and of mean appearance; whereas had it been 
erected, as are most of our other public buildings, near to mean 

2 D 


196 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


4 

or common houses, it would have looked at least its own size. 
Divest yourself of the comparison—turn your back for once on 
St. Paul’s, and the school regains its proper dimensions. 
Looking at it in this view there is scarcely, its cupola excepted, 
a finer public building in London. 

We will now make the best of our way to 

Covent Garden Theatre, 

which, as one of the best of the earlier introductions of Athe¬ 
nian architecture into England, is well worth your inspec¬ 
tion. 

The first theatre on this site was built in 1730, by Rich, the 
celebrated harlequin, who took the ground of the Duke of 
Bedford, at the rent of one hundred pounds a year, and opened 
it in 1733. It held about two hundred pounds before the cur¬ 
tain, which was considered to be a good receipt till 1750, when 
the custom arose of accommodating auditors on the stage on 
crowded nights :—which intrusion was abolished by Garrick. 
In 1746 this greatest of English actors joined Rich at this 
theatre, but Harlequin being jealous of the fame of Roscius, 
they separated; and, at the end of the season, Garrick joined 
Lacey at Drury Lane, taking with him the majority of Rich’s 
good actors. Rich died during the run of a representation of 
the coronation of George the Third, and left the theatre to 
Beard , the singer, who had married his daughter; to Wilford, 
the brother of Mrs. Rich, and to others. At this time the 
ground rent was three hundred pounds a year, and the property 
estimated to be worth sixty thousand pounds. In 1767 Messrs. 
Colman, Harris, Powel and Rutherford purchased it of Rich’s 
heirs for the above named sum. Each took a quarter share, 
but Colman became sole manager. In consequence of serious 
disputes between the partners, Rutherford, who had taken part 
with Harris against Colman and Powel, sold his share to 
Messrs. Leake and Degge, and some time after Colman sold his 
share to his partners and retired from the management, which 
was entrusted to Mr. Harris, who by the purchase of Messrs. 
Leake and Degge’s shares became principal proprietor with Mr. 
Poy/el, who retained his fourth part. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


197 


In 1792 the Duke of Bedford, as ground landlord, granted 
the proprietors a new lease, at nine hundred and forty pounds 
a year (at present it is above two thousand pounds a year), and 
lent them the sum of fifteen thousand pounds, when they en¬ 
larged and partly rebuilt the theatre from designs and under 
the superintendence of Mr. Holland the architect. At the 
opening of the new theatre, for such it may be termed, the pro¬ 
prietors raised the price of admission to the boxes from five to 
six shillings, and to the pit from three shillings to three shillings 
and sixpence. 

In or about the year 1803 John Kemble purchased a sixth 
share of the entire property, and transferred his services, to¬ 
gether with those of his sister Mrs. Siddons and his brother 
Mr. Charles Kemble, from Drury Lane to Covent Garden. On 
the retirement of Mr. Lewis from the situation of Stage- 
manager, Kemble assumed the office. 

On the night of the 20th of September, 1808, the theatre 
was entirely consumed by fire, and the proprietors immediately 
began to rebuild a new one from the designs of Robert Smirke, 
Jun. Esq. R.A., the company performing during the remainder 
of the season at the king’s theatre in the Haymarket. The ar¬ 
chitect commenced his operations forthwith, and by almost un¬ 
exampled energy and perseverance he accomplished his task 
of building and opening this magnificent theatre within a 
twelvemonth. 

The ceremony of laying the first stone of the new building, 
was performed by his present Majesty, then Prince of Wales 
and grand master of the Freemasons; attended by his Royal 
Highness the Duke of Sussex, now grand master of the order, 
General Hulse, Colonels Mac Mahon and Bloomfield, and the 
grand lodge of England ; besides the masters, officers and 
brethren from most of the Masonic lodges in London. 

The grand master was met, upon the spot, round which were 
arranged seats for the ladies and other company who were es¬ 
pecially invited, by the deputy grand master, Lord Moira (the 
late Earl of Hastings), with Messrs. Harris and Kemble; when 
his Royal Highness performed the ceremony of laying the chief 
stone of the corner, which was regularly prepared with all 
due masonic rites and honours. 


1*78 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

The new theatre was opened on the 18th ol September, 1809, 
two days within a twelvemonth of its conflagration, with the 
tragedy of Macbeth. Mr. Alexander Copeland was the inde¬ 
fatigable and able builder, who aided the talents of the archi¬ 
tect in this undertaking. A very full and satisfactory account 
of all the vicissitudes and history of this theatre, from the pen 
of Mr. Charles Dibdin, the dramatic author, is printed in 
Messrs. Britton and Pugin's Illustrations of the Public Buildings 
of this Metropolis, which has furnished me with the above cor¬ 
rect dates. 

On the opening of the new theatre the proprietors had in¬ 
creased the price of admission to the boxes to seven shillings, 
and to the pit to four shillings. They also appropriated an en¬ 
tire circle of boxes, as private property, with retiring rooms 
behind them, as in many of the continental theatres. These in¬ 
novations occasioned the long and celebrated contest between 
the public and the proprietors, known by the name of the O. P. 
(old prices) row ; which was settled by reducing the number of 
private boxes to those which are now T so used, and the price of 
admission to the pit to three shillings and sixpence as at present. 

After many other vicissitudes, which Mr. C. Dibdin has well 
described, the property of the theatre became that of Messrs. 
Henry Harris, Charles Kemble, Const, Forbes and Willetts; 
but it is now unfortunately in Chancery, and the issue is, that 
Mr. Robertson is appointed receiver by the Lord Chancellor, 
Mr. Charles Kemble the general manager, and Mr. Fawcett 
the stage manager. 

One of the best views of the front of this theatre is from the 
opposite side of Bow Street, somewhat to the south of the 
south-east angle. See plate of the Theatre Royal , Covent 
Garden . From the present situation of the sun, we have, 
by taking this station, the shadowy side of the portico towards 
us, which gives a greater variety of light and shade to the 
building than the other. 

This front, which is the principal, and in fact the only archi¬ 
tectural front, if 1 may be allowed to use such an expression, is 
two hundred and twenty feet in length, and divided into three 
principal parts, which project from the main body of the build¬ 
ing and form its most attractive features. These are the portico 
and the wings. The former is tetrastyle of the Athenian Doric 


199 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

oid< i, after that of the temple of Minerva Parthenon at Athens, 
and the latter are formed of antae after the same example. 
Ihe columns both in front and flank are equidistant, and 
have one triglyph and two metopes to each intercolumniation, 
and the antae of the wings have the interval of two triglyphs 
and three metopes between them. 

Ihe entire entablature is carried over the portico and the 
wings; but the architrave, frieze, metopes and mutules are 
omitted in the intervening portions of the front, to make room 
foi the sculpture. The portico is crowned by a well-propor¬ 
tioned pediment surmounted by acroteria. The cornice of the 
wings and main building are surmounted by a blocking-course 
and parapet, crowned by a surbase moulding, like that which 
the same architect has used in the United Service Club House. 
Behind this the lofty walls of the body of the theatre rear them¬ 
selves in stern simplicity, and form an admirable architectural 
back ground to the ornamental facade below. 

The lower part of the building on each side of the portico 
and between the wings, is perforated by three arcades of seg¬ 
mental arches, which have been complained of, as not according 
in style with the Athenian purity of the other portion of the 
edifice. Above these and over the plain square-headed door¬ 
ways under the portico, are a row of nine well-proportioned 
sash windows, raised over a string-course that pervades the 
whole front, on lofty sills, decorated with architraves to the 
jambs and complete entablatures upon their upper surfaces. 

Above these windows, on each side of the portico, are two 
long panels, extending their entire width, in which are sculp¬ 
tures in flat relief, and in niches between the antee of the wings, 
of statues in the round, representing Tragedy and Comedy, 
from the chisel of Flaxman. Tragedy has her emblems of the 
mask and dagger, and Comedy the pastoral crook on her right 
shoulder and the mask in her left hand. 

The bassi-rilievi in the panels are sculptured in freestone, 
from designs by Flaxman, one by Flaxman himself, and the 
other by Rossi, who also carved the figure of Shakspeare, in the 
anti-room of the principal box entrance. The northern compart¬ 
ment represents the ancient, and the southern the modern 
drama. In the centre of the latter, Shakspeare is seated on a 
rock, with the emblems of dramatic poetry, the tragic and the 


200 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


comic masks, and the lyre lying round him. He is raising his 
right hand, in the act of summoning Caliban laden with wood. 
Next, is Ferdinand sheathing his sword, and Miranda entreating 
Prospero in her lover’s behalf. These characters in the Tempest 
appear as spirited on by Ariel above, who is playing on a lyre, 
and the group is completed by Hecate, the tri-formed goddess 
descending in her car drawn by oxen. Next to her is Lady 
Macbeth, with the daggers in her hands, followed by her hus¬ 
band, who is turning with horror from the corpse of the mur¬ 
dered Duncan behind him. On the other side of Shakspeare, 
nearer to the portico, and in the centre, is Milton, also seated 
and contemplating Urania. Samson Agonistes lies chained at 
his feet; and behind him are the two virtuous brothers, driving 
Comus and three bacchanals before them, their sister still being- 
confined in the enchanted chair ; and the subject is terminated 
by two tigers, as emblematical of the brutal transformation of 
the devotees of sensuality. 

In the other, or southern panel, is a sculptural representation 
of the ancient drama. In the centre of the compartment sit 
three Greek poets; the two which look towards the portico are 
Aristophanes, the father of the old Greek comedy, and Me¬ 
nander of the new. Before them, Thalia, the muse of comedy 
and pastoral poetry, with her crook and mask, presents herself 
as inviting them to follow her. Behind her are Polyhymnia 
with the barbiton or greater, and Euterpe with the cithara or 
lesser lyre; Clio, with the longer pipe, and Terpsichore, as the 
muse of dancing or pantomime, finish the group. These are 
succeeded by three nymphs, crowned with the leaves of the fir 
pine, diapered with short tunics, who are attending Pegasus the 
winged horse of poetry. The third sitting figure in the centre is 
Aeschylus, father of the Greek tragedy, holding an open scroll or 
antique book upon his knee, and attending to the dictates 
of Minerva. Between the goddess of wisdom and the poet, 
stands Bacchus with the ivy crown, the joint inspirer with 
Apollo of the ancient poets, and the ruler of one of the summits 
of Parnassus, leaning upon his fawn. Behind Minerva stands 
Melpomene, the muse-general of the stage and presider over all 
melancholy and grave subjects as well as tragedy, holding the 
sword of poetical justice and the tragic mask. Behind her are 
two furies pursuing Orestes, who is stretching out his hands to 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 201 

supplicate Apollo for protection and expiation. These sculp¬ 
tures are in the finest style of the art, and being from the 
pencil as well as from the chisel of Flaxman (for in the mere 
execution of one, his friend Rossi was but another self), they 
are, as all his works are, classical, elegant and appropriate. 
And, as the architect has selected the details of his architecture 
fiom the purest model of the Greek style that ever was ex¬ 
ecuted, the temple of Minerva Parthenon at Athens, so has 
the sculptor adopted the style of his sculpture from that of the 
Panathenaic procession of the same noble edifice. 

The doors under the portico open into a spacious hall, which 
communicates with the grand entrance to the boxes ; and those 
under the arcades lead respectively to the private boxes, the pit 
and galleries. 1 he front next Hart Street is appropriated to the 
scenery and stage department of the theatre, and the side next 
Princes Place to the royal and principal property boxes. 

Before we proceed further westward, a few moments will be 
well employed in looking at the exterior of 

Drury Lane Theatre, 

which the waggish authors of “the Rejected Addresses,” that 
were supposed to have been sent in by various eminent authors 
to be recited at its opening, taking Cobbett’s name in vain, 
call 


“ A plain, brown, brick, playhouse.” 


It is, however, not only incomplete as to the architect’s inten¬ 
tion, but has been spoiled by the addition of as ugly a portico 
as ever disgraced the front of the veriest barn at the lowest 
country fair. 

The principal front next Brydges Street is two hundred and 
thirty-one feet in length, and, before the perpetration of the 
before-mentioned portico, consisted of two slightly projecting 
wings, from which an elegant tetrastyle portico of the Ionic 
order, the whole height of the building, was to have projected. 
See print of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. These wings are 
formed of four antse, surmounted by an entablature, the archi- 


202 


METROPOLITAN IMPIIOVEMENTS. 


trave of which is very properly omitted in the central part, and 
in the sides which extend beyond the wings, ihis central part 
or entire facade is plaistered with Roman cement in imitation ot 
Portland stone, and joins on to the north front in Little Russeil 
Street, (so named after the Duke of Bedford, its ground land- 
lord,) with great ingenuity and pleasing effect. The cornice is 
surmounted by a lofty blocking-course, breaking into piers over 
the antae. The capitals of the antae are of the pure Greek 
Ionic, after those of the temple of Minerva Polias at Priene ; 
the echini of which are embellished with eggs and tongues, and 
the hypotrachelion with the beautiful foliage of the Grecian 
honeysuckle. Between the shafts of the antae in each wing is a 
well-proportioned window, constructed upon a deep stone sill, 
which corresponds in lines and height with the string-course of 
the north and south fronts. This is a judicious and tasteful 
deviation from a common practice, for had it been continued 
between the antae the effect would have been marred by the 
confusion of such a multiplicity of lines. The division of the 
stories is as properly marked by a larger or principal string¬ 
course, which runs through, and pervades the whole composi¬ 
tion. It is these delicate and nicely balanced introductions or 
omissions that distinguish the true architect, or the artist , from 
the mere builder, or the artisan. 

The windows in the wings have dressings, consisting of archi¬ 
traves up their jambs, with spreading shoulders near their sum¬ 
mits, which are carried along the head, and support an archi¬ 
trave and appropriate cornice. The three centre windows have 
similar dressings; but as a distinctive mark, and not being 
protected like the others by a projecting epistylium, they have 
triangular pediments, which create both variety and beauty, 
arising from utility, in the composition. 

Had this front been decorated, as originally intended, with 
an Ionic portico of columns in accordance with the preparatory 
antae, its effect would have been extremely beautiful, and have 
been as harmonious a composition as any in the metropolis. 

Of the portico that has been thus thrust in, like a coal 
heaver into his majesty’s box at the Opera, between the classical 
antae of Benjamin Wyatt, perhaps the less that is said of it 
the better; although Mr. Elliston has been lauded in Pugin’s 
Illustrations of the Public Buildings of the Metropolis, for 









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METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 203 

erecting this par-a-pluie for the use of the nobility and gentry 
that frequent this “ grand entrance.” To say the best of it, it 
is a bad edition of the portico of Elliston’s present regality, the 
Surry Theatre. 

The first theatre on or about this site, says Mr. Bray ley, who 
is authority in such matters, was at the Cockpit or Phoenix in 
Drury Lane, under the management of Rhodes, whose leading 
performers were Betterton and Kynaston. Various calamities 
befel this theatre in the chequered reign of Charles II.: once 
it was demolished by a mob, and was for some time suppressed 
by puritanical influence. 

After this Sir William D’avenant and the celebrated Killi- 
grew obtained patents for more regular performances from 
Charles II. and the latter built a new theatre in Drury Lane, 
calling his company “ the King’s Servants,” and Sir William 
denominating his “ the Duke’s Servants.” 

In 1672 Killigrew’s theatre was burned, and soon after re¬ 
built by Sir Christopher Wren. In 1709, in consequence of a 
quarrel between Rich and his actors, the theatre was closed by 
order of the Lord Chancellor, and re-opened in 1710, by a the¬ 
atrical license, during the suspension of the patent, by Mr. 
Collier, a barrister at law, in conjunction with Wilks, Cibber 
and Dogget. In 1718 its concerns were managed by Sir 
Richard Steele, Wilks, Cibber and Booth the original actor of 
Cato. After various changes the property came into the posses¬ 
sion of Mr. Fleetwood, who united the Drury Lane and Hay 
Market companies, and obtained great celebrity for his theatre by 
the splendid talents of Quin, Macklin, Garrick, Mrs. Clive and 
Mrs. Pritchard, with an excellent company of subordinates. 
After a time Fleetwood, being unsuccessful and at variance 
with his best performers, parted with his theatre, which finally 
came into the hands and under the able management of Garrick 
and Lacey ; the latter superintending the properties and econo¬ 
mical arrangements, whilst Garrick conducted the stage depart¬ 
ment in a manner that at once raised the character of the 
British stage to an unprecedented degree of celebrity, and 
stamped the name of (jctnick as the British Roscius without 
an unmeaning compliment; for, like that eminent Roman, lie 
entertained the greatest master-spirits oi the age, by his talents 
on the stage, and by his manners and wit in society. Like the 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


204 

Roman too he associated with the lawyers and statesmen of 
the day, and became, like him, rich and universally esteemed. 
He restored the British stage to a dignity surpassing any 
former period of its history, and which it will be difficult to 
equal; he revived the plays of Shakspeare, some of which had 
lain dormant for nearly a century ; and being himself a wit, a 
gentleman and a scholar, he attracted audiences, amongst which 
were the greatest wits, the most polished gentlemen and the 
greatest scholars of the age. 

In October, 1754, a no-popery riot took place in the theatre, 
levelled against “ the papists and Frenchmen ” whom Garrick 
had engaged to perform and dance in a grand spectacle, called 
the Chinese Festival; which continued for several nights, and 
displayed itself particularly on the first night, when the king 
(George II.) was present, who laughed very heartily, says Mr. 
Brayley, on learning the cause of his English subjects’ wrath. 
Much mischief was done to the theatre ; and the private dwelling 
house of Garrick, who, contrary to the wishes of Lacey, perse¬ 
vered in the unpopular measure, was also attacked by the in¬ 
furiated mob. 

Among other useful reforms, introduced by Garrick on the 
stage, was the banishment of a portion of the audience from 
seats on the stage, a great drawback to the illusion and cun¬ 
ning of the scene, as represented in various pictures by Hogarth 
and other cotemporary painters; and among the improvements, 
not the least was the introduction of the foot-lights in front 
of the stage, and the removal of the hoops of candles, called 
chandeliers, from the stage. 

On Garrick’s retirement from the stage he assigned his pro¬ 
perty in Drury Lane Theatre to Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 
Thomas Linley and Richard Ford, who also purchased Mr. 
Lacey’s moiety, and became the sole proprietors of the theatre 
which Garrick had rendered so celebrated. In 1791 these gen¬ 
tlemen pulled down the theatre, and built another from the de¬ 
signs of the late Mr. Holland, the interior of which, for light¬ 
ness, elegance, form and beauty, was the very bean-ideal of a 
theatre. 

After many vicissitudes, during which, however, the inimitable 
Siddons, and her talented brothers, John and Charles Kemble, 
graced its boards, on the night of the 24th of February, 1809, 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 205 

this ill-fated and splendid pile was consumed by fire ; about five 

months after its rival in Covent Garden met with the same 
fate. 

Sheridan was at the time of the conflagration engaged on 
the business of the nation in the House of Commons, which to 
its honour distinguished itself, in opposition to Sheridan’s re¬ 
monstrances, that his private affairs ought not to stop the busi¬ 
ness of the public, by an immediate adjournment. During this 
appalling sight, the remembrance of which will never be ob¬ 
literated from my memory whilst reason holds its seat, the 
colossal figure of Apollo, which was carved and presented to 
the theatre by the Honorable Anne Seymour Darner, and stood 
on the summit of the octagonal temple, that formed the apex 
of the theatre (designed after the temple of the eight winds at 
Athens), braved the fury of the devouring element, looking like 
the son of Latona, darting his rays from his eyes and irradiating 
ringlets, and was almost the last object that fell prostrate into 
the fiery bed beneath it. 

A new theatre, projected by the late Mr. Whitbread, and 
raised at the expense of a joint-stock company of proprietors 
and share-holders, has been since erected on the site of the pre¬ 
ceding, from the designs and under the superintendence of 
Benjamin Wyatt, Esq. who has published a very useful and 
interesting volume of observations on his design, accompanied 
by plates, to which I refer you for more particulars and details 
than I can give in this place. 

The first stone of this theatre was laid on the 29th of 
October, 1811, and it was opened for dramatic representations 
on the 10th of October, 1812, being less than twelve months in 
building. The interior has been altered since its first erection 
by my old friend Samuel Beazley, who is, I am happy to say, 
not the contriver of that beauty of ugliness of a portico that 
disfigures the principal front. 

The wing on the western end of the north front is a very 
happy simplification of its neighbour in the west front; and the 
niche which takes the place of the window, and the panelled 
parapet over the cornice, add to the harmony of the composi¬ 
tion. The other parts of the north front consist of a row of 
windows with circular heads, within circular headed recesses to 
the entrance or ground story; a continuation of the string- 


206 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


course of the west front to distinguish the line of stories, and a 
row of square headed windows in a lofty wall to the principal 
story. This is crowned by a continuation of the cornice and 
blocking-course, and the line of frieze marked by the fillet of 
the upper member of the frieze as a divisional line. 

Simplicity pervades the whole design, which, considering the 
strict economy that was observed by the committee and con¬ 
trolled the architect, is as handsome and as appropriate to its 
use as any in the metropolis. 

As we have a few minutes to spare, before we proceed on our 
journey westward, and as the building before us produces remi¬ 
niscences of that popular actor and most jovial of managers, 
Elliston, a short discussion of his 


Surry Theatre 


will be, as he himself would say, “ germaine to the matter.” 
When I first remember this place of amusement, it was called 
“ Hughes’s,” after its proprietor, and, like Ducrow’s Royal Am¬ 
phitheatre near Westminster Bridge, was appropriated chiefly 
to horsemanship, and therefore named the Royal Circus. Over 
the centre of its former front was a model of Pegasus, upon 
whose back I have often wished myself when in my way to 
school at Sydenham Common. 

This theatre, like many of its betters, has been the victim of 
the God of fire, and was burned down about three and twenty 
years ago. It was then rebuilt from the designs of Signor 
Cabanel, an Italian artist of great knowledge in theatrical 
buildings, under the directions and immediate superintendence 
of my lamented friend the late Mr. Janies Donaldson the 
younger, son of James Donaldson, Esq. architect of Blooms¬ 
bury Square, and the brother of Thomas Leverton Donaldson, 
Esq. the able author of the History of Pompeii. This amiable 
young man fell a sacrifice to his great exertions and anxiety to 
get this theatre finished within the time that he had engaged ; 
and his fatigue, having to direct and control two gangs of 
workmen, one by day and the other by night, was too much 
even for his young and powerful frame. 


MET ROPOLITAN Ij\ IPROV EM ENTS. 


207 

I he front, as you will see by a reference to my friend Shep¬ 
herd s drawing, see print of the Surry Theatre , Blaclcjriar’s 
lload , is more theatrical and scene-painter-like than architec¬ 
tural ; but it is appropriate, and does, not offend the canons of 
taste, more than some prouder edifices that affect a greater state. 

When Elliston first took this theatre he removed the ride, 
which he converted into the best pit in London, as the seats 
rise so much from front to rear; and from a theatre of buffoo¬ 
nery and balderdash, into one of a much more rational cha¬ 
racter. He performed in it himself, introduced well painted 
scenery, and as good a version of Shakspeare as the law would 
allow. The public encouraged him, and he gained wealth in 
his well-managed speculation, and gave it a new and better 
name, as Horace Smith has it, 


“ ’Twas called the Circus once, but now the Surry .* 1 


Our jovial friend, Elliston, then became the lessee of the im¬ 
mense establishment of Drury Lane; and his liberality, talents 
and pleasantry of manners, deserved a better return, both from 
the public and the shareholders than he experienced. The 
Surry Theatre then devolved to that clever manager and excel¬ 
lent light dramatic writer (not penman), Tom Dibdin, who ac¬ 
quired far more reputation than profit, in his Surry (once lie 
called it sorry) speculation. 

It next fell under the management of his brother Charles, 
who conducted it with ability, and I have heard with profit; but 
it has now returned under the control of Elliston, whom I 
have seen resume his station in the Drama in this pretty theatre 
with unrivalled success; particularly in Walter in the Children 
in the Wood; but he can never personally shine in this sphere, 
because his peculiar line, and in which he stands unrivalled, is 
genteel comedy. 

The portico is more useful than architectural, but accords in 
style and taste with the facade that it adorns, more completely 
than that which we have just now been discussing. 

Elliston first set the example in this theatre of improving the 
style of performance in the minor theatres, and he has been 
followed, to the manifest improvement of the public taste, by all 
the others. 


MET R OPOLIT A N IMPROVEMENTS. 


208 

We will now make the best of our way through the Adelphi 
and Scotland Yard, and in our road to the new' works going on 
at the Treasury, under the superintendence of Mr. Soane, take 
a passing glance at that beautifully situated row of town 
mansions— 


Richmond Terrace, Whitehall. 

This pile of building receives its name from having been 
erected on the site of the ancient town mansion of the noble 
family of the Lennoxes, Dukes of Richmond. It is celebrated 
for containing in former days, when the late noble governor of 
Canada’s uncle, the well known Master General of the Ordnance 
in the American war, was its liberal owner, the finest collection 
of casts after the best examples of antique sculpture then in 
England; which the noble owner permitted to be used by the 
artists of his day with the greatest freedom. In fact it w as then 
to the student what the sculpture gallery at the British Mu¬ 
seum is now, with the addition of occasional medals distributed 
to the ablest artists for drawings made under certain regulations 
in the gallery. 

The design, as you will quickly perceive, of this well built 
terrace is common-place, and exhibits neither taste nor fancy. 
See print of Richmond Terrace , Whitehall. It is a row of good 
houses, with the windows placed where internal convenience 
require them, and the columns and architectural embellishments 
added as an appliquee , and are merely ornamented , instead of being 
essential , and part and parcel, as the lawyers say, of the building. 
The order is Ionic, of no peculiar beauty ; the antae not in cha¬ 
racter nor accordance with the columns, and the entrance or 
ground story is of most veritable carpenters’ architecture. The 
whole is imposing from its size, and the good finish of the 
workmanship. 

The composition is divided into two parts, a centre and two 
w r ings, raised upon a rusticated basement, which forms the en¬ 
trance or ground story, and projects under the centre and 
wings. The centre is a hexastyle portico of three-quarter, or 
attached columns, surmounted by a pediment and blocking- 
course. The wings are composed of two similar columns be¬ 
tween two antae, in imitation of the ancient tetrastyle portico 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


209 


in antis. The whole entablature is continued through the 
whole front, which is productive of heaviness, in the parts 
between the wings. The cornice is surmounted by a balus¬ 
trade, and a continued balcony at the basis of the columns 
runs along the entire front. 

The terrace itself, that is, the part which is raised above the 
level of Privy Gardens, and separated therefrom by a very pretty 
stone balustrade and coping, raised in the centre and with cir¬ 
cular and scroll ends, accommodated to the form of the car¬ 
riage road, is both ornamental to the composition and useful to 
the houses. 

I have not heard the name of any architect attached to it as 
its author, and therefore conclude, from that circumstance, as 
well as from the nature of its composition, that it was designed 
by the builder, who took the ground on a building lease. 

Of a similar style of architecture, which the late facetious 
James Peacock, of the Architect’s Office, Guildhall, was used 
to call u the Mary-le-bone School,” is 

Furnival’s Inn, Holborn, 

which has, like Richmond Terrace, the same admixture of 
brick and stone, the same carrying through of architraves, 
where there are no projections, and neither columns, pilasters 
nor antse to support them, or to give warranty for their intro¬ 
duction ; and the same overloading of cornices by balustrades 
where no such ornaments could by any possibility be wanted. 
Compare similar parts of the western front of Drury Lane The¬ 
atre, that we have just been considering, with the instances 
now before us. See print of FurnivaVs Inn , Holborn. 

The composition of the front of this well-built inn of court, 
is, like that of Richmond Terrace, of three parts, a boldly pro¬ 
jecting centre and two slightly projecting wings. In height, it 
has four stories, the lower of which, the entrance or ground 
story, is rusticated, and perforated by windows with semicir¬ 
cular heads. The centre opening is a large gateway, covered 
by an elliptical rusticated arch, and leads to the inner quad¬ 
rangle. The one and two pair stories have windows arranged 
according to interior convenience, and decorated by architraves. 
Those in the wings have pediments, but for what reason they 


210 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

are so protected, standing under a cornice of equal projection 
as the others, whilst the others have only horizontal cornices, it 
would puzzle a critic to tell. Mr. Benjamin Wyatt, as I have 
already shown, has good reasons for such a practice in his front 
of Drury Lane Theatre, to which I refer you, which the archi¬ 
tect (if such a person there be), of Furnival s Inn has not. 

The centre part of this principal division is decorated by 
what is meant for a tetrastyle portico of the Ionic order; but 
owing'to the extraordinary and unprecedented width of th.e 
centre intercolumniation, it looks more like two sets of coupled 
columns, after the method of Perrault, than a well arranged 
columniation of a Grecian order. In consequence of this mal- 
arrangement of the columns, the epistylium over the centre 
opening looks weak and frangible. The arrangement of the 
balustrade over the portico partakes of the same fault and for 
the same reason, though why a balustrade should be placed 
there at all is surprizing. It is like the figures in amber, which, 
as the satirist says, 


M The things we know, are neither rich nor rare. 

But wonder, how the devil they get there.” 

Pope. 

The thing represents a balcony, but there is no entrance to 
it, therefore it is not what it appears to be, and architecture 
more than any other art demands truth for its basis. 

The architect here has committed that sin voluntarily which 
Sir Christopher Wren was forced by an honourable and re¬ 
verend committee of taste to commit, against his better judg¬ 
ment, upon the top of St. Paul's Cathedral; which not being 
a terrace for walking, did not require a balustrade, except for 
the perambulation of the jack daws and sparrows that build 
in the roofs, or the plumber’s labourers in their annual gutter 
cleaning. 

That great architect, on being desired to shew cause why the 
commissioners should not substitute a balustrade for a blocking- 
course as an acroterium to the upper cornice of St. Paul’s as he 
had designed it, replied * “ I have considered the resolution of 
the honourable the commissioners for adorning St. Paul’s Cathe- 

* 


Elmes’s Life of When, 508. 



I' . Inoraved Dv'WBand 

Drawn by'-Dux’ Ji Shepherd. & 


C1AFM ©F IA^I, WIST MACKNET, 

Dublisiei Sep 1 . 21 .162 7. Dy Jones k C. 3. Acton Place. Jfinodaiidltoai.London. 


































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 21] 

dial, dated October 15, 1717, and brought to me on the 21st, 
impoiting, * that a balustrade of stone be set up on the top of 
the church, unless Sir Christopher Wren do, in writing under 
his hand, set forth, that it is contrary to the principles of ar¬ 
chitecture, and give his opinion in a fortnight’s time ; and if he 
doth not, then the resolution of a balustrade is to be proceeded 
with.’ 

“ I n observance of this resolution, I take leave; first, to 
declare, I never designed a balustrade. Persons of little skill 
in architecture did expect, I believe, to see something they had 
been used to in Gothic structures; and ladies think nothing well 
without an edging. I should gladly have complied with the 
vulgar taste ; but I suspended for the reasons following :— 

“ A balustrade is supposed a sort of plinth over the upper 
colonnade, which may be divided into balusters, over open 
parts or voids, but kept solid over solid parts, such as pilasters; 
for a continued range of balusters cannot be proposed to stand 
alone against high winds ; they would be liable to be tipped 
down in a row if there were not solid parts at due distances in¬ 
termixed, which solid parts are in the form of pedestals, and 
may be in length as long as the frieze below, where pilasters 
are double, as in our case ; for double pilasters may have one 
united pedestal, as they have one entablature, and one frieze 
extended over both. But now in the inward angles, where the 
pilasters cannot be doubled, as before they were, the two voids 
or more open parts would meet in the angle with one small pi¬ 
laster between, and create a very disagreeable mixture. I am 
farther to observe, that there is already over the entablature a 
proper plinth, which regularly terminates the building; and, as 
no provision was originally made in my plan, for a balustrade, the 
setting up of one in such a confused manner over the plinth 
must apparently break into the harmony of the whole machine, 
and in this particular case, be contrary to the principles of ar¬ 
chitecture.” 

So much for the balustrade and its utilities and beauties. 
The wings are also in a similarly defective taste with the portico ; 
that, having too wide a centre, and these, having no centres 
at all; or, what is worse, the centre of each being occupied by a 
pier instead of an opening. Then, the blocking-course over 
the superior cornice is broken into by the attic windows, like 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


212 

the embrasures of a fortress, and have a bad effect. The upper 
cornice and parapet is in a better taste, and gives a good finish 
to the elevation. The substantial manner in which this structure 
is built, affords a greater reason for regret at its inefficiency of 
design, for errors like these should not have been perpetuated 
by such good materials, and masterly workmanship. It is the 
mind, and not the hand, that is wanting. 

But, as a contrast, I will call your attention to 


The New Government Mews, Princes Street, Storey’s 

Gate, Westminster ; 

a design of Decimus Burton’s, a legitimate architect of a good 
school. Truly may we say with Shakspeare, 

“ Look on this picture, and on this.” 


The front of this chaste and classical building is, like the 
two other buildings that have passed in review before us, com¬ 
posed of three parts, a centre and tw r o wings, inclosing the body 
or leading feature of the composition, which is pure Doric. 
The centre has a carriage way, and two posterns, the former 
being covered by a semicircular rusticated arch, and the latter 
by lintels reaching from antse to antse. It has two columns 
between the antse after the manner of the ancient order of 
temples called in antis, and the angles guarded by a pair of 
coupled antse, making the composition in a manner octastyle. 
See print of New Government Meivs, Princes Street, Storey's 
Gate, Westminster. The entablature is, as the heralds say in 
speaking of a true representation of an object in opposition to the 
heraldric mode, proper , and continued through the whole com¬ 
position. The antse are continued at regular intervals of two 
triglyphs and three metopes distance, in the main body of the 
front; and the wings are distinguished by inverted porticoes of 
two columns in antis, and covered by triangular pediments. 

This length of entablature, unbroken except in the centre 
and the two wings, is surmounted by a plain and lofty blocking- 
course, eminently in character with the order of the building. 
The centre is marked by an attic, which is not an unmeaning 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


213 

screen, but a solid building, the full depth of the gateway 
below. 

From the place in which we are now standing, this elegant 
and classical composition has a charming effect; which is much 
increased by the venerable turrets of Westminster Abbey, that 
tow r er above its centre in picturesque grandeur. See Print. 

As the day is peculiarly fine, a walk across the park will 
afford us an opportunity of observing the plantations and 
buildings now in progress. We can then take a coach to Ken¬ 
sington gardens, and after a refreshing airing along the banks 
of its canal, have a good opportunity of surveying 

The New Bridge over the Serpentine, Hyde Park. 

This very elegant bridge was designed and executed by the 
Messrs. Rennies, and forms a beautiful object from either side. 
A good view is obtained from the southern bank of the water, 
where the rich and luxuriant foliage of the plantations in Ken¬ 
sington Gardens forms a beautiful back-ground over its summit; 
and the walks round the margin of the lake a lively contrast 
to the dark shadows of the arches, which cast their reflexes on 
the surface of the silvery waters. See the Print. 

This spacious and beautiful park receives its name from being 
the site of the ancient manor of Hyde , that belonged, in olden 
time, to the abbey church of Westminster, till it became the 
property of the crown in the reign of Henry VIII., by exchange 
for other lands. In the year 1652 it contained, by admeasure¬ 
ment, six hundred and twenty acres. In Cromwell’s time, it was 
sold in different lots and produced the sum of £17,068. 6s. 8d 
including the timber and the deer. At the Restoration it was 
resumed with the other crown lands, replenished with deer, and 
surrounded by a brick wall, having been previously fenced with 
pales. This brick wall has been recently removed from the new 
entrance at the top of Piccadilly to Knightsbridge, and re¬ 
placed by handsome iron railings, which form one of the most 
beautiful and useful improvements of the present improving 
age. 

Since the survey in 1652 Hyde Park has been considerably 
diminished, partly by buildings between Hyde Park Corner 
and Park Lane, but principally by the enlargement of Ken- 


214 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


sington Gardens, which, when sold by the second Earl of 
Nottingham to King William, consisted of only twenty-six 
acres. Queen Anne set the example of robbing Peter to pay 
Paul, by taking thirty acres from the park to add to the gar¬ 
dens, which were laid out by her celebrated gardener Wise; 
and Queen Caroline followed her predecessor’s example by ab¬ 
stracting nearly three hundred acres from it, which were laid 
out by the equally celebrated artist Bridgman, and afterwards 
much improved by that great master of his art, Capability 
Brown. 

By a survey taken in 1790, its extent was found to be three 
hundred and ninety-four acres and a fraction. The large sheet 
of water before us, called, absurdly enough, being a parallelo¬ 
gram, the Serpentine River, was made by connecting several 
ponds, at the command of Queen Caroline in 1730 by Bridg¬ 
man, when he altered Kensington Gardens. Its waters are 
supplied from a small stream which rises at Bayswater, and 
falling into the Thames near Ranelagh, forms the geographical 
boundary between the parishes of Chelsea, and St. George 
Hanover Square. 

In fine weather, particularly on Sundays, during the London 
season, between the hours of two and five the drives and walks 
of this beautiful park are crowded with all the people of rank 
and beauty in the metropolis, intermixed with the genteel of 
the middle classes, from whom it is almost impossible to dis¬ 
tinguish them; proving the accuracy of Buonaparte’s percep¬ 
tions, when he asked at Plymouth, where were our middle 
classes ? 

The bridge itself, which is more particularly the object of 
our investigation this day, consists of five water arches and two 
land arches. Its upper surface is level, and connects by its 
roadway the northern and southern banks of the canal. The 
river arches are segments of circles, with archivolts and key¬ 
stones, surmounted by a block cornice, and a balustrade with 
equidistant piers. The spandrels of the arches are filled by 
level courses of masonry, and no projecting piers above the 
cut-waters. 

The land arches are semicircular between the projecting 
piers, and have also a balustrade above them, the width of the 
aperture below. These arches are also dressed with archivolts, 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


215 


that descend as architraves to the plinth, at the level of the 
springings of the larger arches and key-stones. The parapet of 
the road-way is plain and of the same height as the balustrade 
of the bridge. The entire design of the bridge is light, elegant, 
and particularly well adapted to its situation. Its material is a 
durable sand-stone, from Yorkshire, called Bramley Fall, which 
is esteemed by many competent judges as less liable to be acted 
upon by the changes of the atmosphere than even granite. 

Let us now skirt the bank of this beautiful lake, and in our 
way to the new entrances, that have been recently erected, take 
a view of the colossal 

Statue of Achilles, 

erected by a public subscription of ladies to the memory of 
the great and important victories of the Duke of Wellington. 
The inscription on the massive granite pedestal records the his¬ 
tory of this singular statue. See print of the Statue of Achilles, 
in Hyde Park. 


“TO ARTHUR DUKE OF WELLINGTON, 

AND HIS BRAVE COMPANIONS IN ARMS, 

THIS STATUE OF ACHILLES, 

CAST FROM CANNON TAKEN IN THE VICTORIES 
OF SALAMANCA, VITTORIA, TOULOUSE AND WATERLOO, 

IS INSCRIBED 

BY THEIR COUNTRYWOMEN. 

PLACED ON THIS SPOT 
ON THE XVIII. DAY OF JUNE, MDCCCXX1I. 

BY COMMAND OF 


HIS MAJESTY GEORGE IIII.” 


216 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


The practice of executing statues of colossal dimensions and 
proportions is of very high antiquity. The people of the east, 
from the most ancient times, have been celebrated for colossal 
sculpture. The pagodas of China, the temples of India and 
the excavated caverns of the east, abound with colossal statues 
of every denomination. The Asiatics, the Egyptians, and in 
particular the Greeks, have excelled in these works. 

The colossus before us is a restoration in bronze of one of 
the celebrated groups on the Monte Cavallo at Rome, the first 
cast of which was brought into this country by my old friend 
Charles Day, and exhibited by him first at the King’s Mews, 
Charing Cross, and now at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly. 

This fine cast, which for some reason, is called Achilles, was 
executed by Mr. Westmacott, the Professor of Sculpture in the 
Royal Academy, and is as fine a specimen of sculptural brass 
founding as any in Europe. The original statue has the straps 
of a shield on its left arm, which the artist has restored to a 
perfect discus , or circular shield ; but has not given him a 
sword. The original is placed by the side of a horse, as if in 
the act of reining Kim in ; but the action would have been ob¬ 
scure in the isolated statue without the shield, which is, there¬ 
fore, in this case, both explanatory and appropriate. 

The original groupes, called by some authors the Dioscuri , as 
conceiving them to be the representations of the twin sons of 
Leda, and by others, as representations of Alexander the 
Great, conquering Bucephalus; one executed by Phidias, and 
the other by Praxiteles, stand in the front of the pontifical 
palace at Rome, and were brought from Greece by Constantine 
the Great, for the ornament of his Quirinal Baths, the site of 
which is now occupied by the Palazzo Rospighosi. They were 
placed in their present situations by pope Sixtus V., in 1589, 
who has inscribed upon them in good Latin, that one is Alex- 
andei taming Bucephalus, and was executed by that noble 
sculptor Phidias, in marble, and that the other was executed by 
Pi axiteles in emulation of his great rival. One is also inscribed 
Opus Phidia:, and the other Opus Praxitelis. 

Among the principal colossal statues of antiquity that are 
worthy of notice, are that of Nero, by Zenodorus, which, after 
the death of the tyrant whose form it bore, was dedicated to 
the sun. Commodus decapitated it, and substituted his own 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


217 


bust, as a loyal Lord Mayor of London did to the statue of 
Oliver Cromwell in Stocks Market, and substituted the more 
legitimate head of Charles II. Domitian also, actuated by a 
similar ambition, had a colossus of himself sculptured as the 
deity of the sun. 

But these, and all other colossal statues, except perhaps that 
of Rhodes, are surpassed in dimensions, if not in beauty, by 
the enormous colossus of San Carlo Borromeo at Arona, in the 
Milanese territory, which, like this of the Wellington Achilles, 
is of bronze, sixty feet in height, and has a staircase within it, 
for the purpose of occasional repairs and restorations. 

Now let us pass under the Ionic entrance into the Park, and 
survey the new 

Entrance to the King’s Palace, Hyde Park Corner, 

which is a splendid triumphal arch of elegant proportions, 
florid decorations, and exquisitely finished workmanship. It is 
executed from the designs of Mr. Decimus Burton, and is one 
of the finest modern triumphal arches in existence. 

The invention of triumphal arches is attributable to the 
Romans, but their earliest efforts in this department of decora¬ 
tive architecture are devoid of that magnificence which they 
afterwards gave to these structures. At first they were merely 
plain arches, for the victor and his attendants to pass under, 
on the top of which were placed trophies taken by him from 
their enemies, and a statue of the conqueror, whom they 
wished to commemorate. Subsequently the space was en¬ 
larged, the style enriched by sculpture; and three arches, a 
centre and two posterns perforated its solid mass, which was 
crowned by a lofty attic, bearing inscriptions commemorative of 
the event that it celebrated. In earlier times, when the con¬ 
queror passed under the arch in triumph, a figme of A ictoiy, 
bearing a palm Iftanch and a crown of laui el, was suspended 
over its apex, and made to descend on the approach of the 
victor, and to place the crown upon his head as he passed be¬ 
neath. This is the origin of the sculptured figures of Victories 

in the spandrels of most of these arches. 

The triumphal arches of Rome, that are now in existence, 
are of three very distinct species, if I may so call them. Fiist, 


218 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


those with a single arch, like that of Titus at Rome, of Trajan 
at Ancona, and this before us. See the print of the Entrance 
to the King’s Palace , Hyde Park Corner . Secondly, those 
which are formed of two arches or arcades, such as those of 
Verona, See., which appear also to have served for entrance 
gates to the city ; and, thirdly, the species composed of three 
arches, the centre being the principal or grand arch for caval¬ 
cades, chariots, Sec., and the outer two smaller, as posterns for 
foot passengers. 

The arch before us is of the first species, consisting of a 
single arch and suitable architectural decorations. The aper¬ 
ture, covered by the arch, has an architrave, surmounted by an 
archivolt without a sculptured key-stone, which is an innova¬ 
tion by no means pleasing. The sides are decorated with Co¬ 
rinthian pilasters, and the space on the wall which corresponds 
in height with the capitals, have sculptured wreaths of laurel 
enclosing the initials G. R. IV., and crowns alternately. 

From the four central pilasters, a portico of four columns 
projects on two solid plinths, which support two well-propor¬ 
tioned columns of the Corinthian order. The entablature is 
lofty and elegant, with a richly sculptured frieze, and a row of 
boldly projecting lions’ heads on the cymatium, marking the 
centres of columns and other subdivisions of the order. Above 
the entablature, on a lofty blocking-course, is raised a well-pro¬ 
portioned attic, the body of which is embellished with a sculp¬ 
tural representation of an ancient triumph. On each of the 
columns is a statue of a warrior, and on the summit of the 
acroterium which surmounts the attic, is a figure in a quadriga 
or ancient four horse chariot. 

The design of this very beautiful palatial entrance, is clas¬ 
sical and appropriate, is one of the most distinguished orna¬ 
ments of our metropolis, and possesses an originality of thought, 
that is rarely met with, in modern compositions of this kind. 
The masonry and sculpture are beautifully executed, and tend 
by their perfection to the unity of appearance between the 
artist’s design and the artisan’s execution, which is alike cre¬ 
ditable to both. 

Before leaving Hyde Park, we will take a turn to the north¬ 
ward up the newly made road, and look at one of the new 
lodges, recently erected in Park Lane by my tasteful friend 




Published Jan* v 31 1 328 by Jones $c C? 3 Ac:an Place. Xingsianc Xoac. ' ondon. 


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METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS, 219 

Decimus Burton. It is of true Grecian simplicity, of the 
Doric order, and appropriate to its situation. See plate of 

One of the New Lodges, Hyde Park. 

{> ‘‘ - • . . r . . ' .. , 

Its composition consists of a centre and two flanks, the for¬ 
mer projecting slightly, is embellished with an opening, which 
forms an inverted portico of two columns, within which the en¬ 
trance door is perforated. No other opening breaks the sim¬ 
plicity of this front, the manly character of which is increased 
by the continuance of the bold entablature on each face of the 
building; but the roof is crowned by a square chimney shaft, 
rising above the slated roof, which adds much to the architec¬ 
tural effect of the picture. 

We will now return towards Piccadilly and investigate both 
sides of that beautiful new structure, 

The Grand Entrance to Hyde Park, 

another design of Mr. Decimus Burton. 

This elegant composition is divided into five leading parts, 
namely, three arched entrances, and two connecting colonnades. 
The centre or principal arcade (See plate of the Grand Entrance 
to Hyde Park 7 Piccadilly), is wider than the side entrances, and 
decorated by coupled columns of the Ionic order, which is the 
pervading character of the whole composition. 

The side entrances have two columns in antis, and the antm 
are repeated in the profile or ends of the structure. The colon¬ 
nades are open and support a beautiful entablature in which 
the able architect has committed the anomaly of introducing 
an architrave of three faces, which ought to be exclusively con¬ 
fined to the Corinthian order. The entablature is carried 
through the entire composition, the side entrances having a 
blocking-course with a raised and projecting centre, as if de¬ 
signed as a base for a group of statues or a trophy. This fea¬ 
ture, the blocking-course, is omitted over the colonnade, and 
elevated into an attic or stylobate over the principal arch. The 
pedestal or frieze of this portion of the design is embellished 
with bassi-rilievi in the Athenian style of sculpture, representing 
a triumphal procession of equestrian warriors. Side or postern 

2 G 


220 


METROPOLITA N IMPROVEMENTS. 


entrances for foot passengers only, formed between well-propor¬ 
tioned stone piers, add to the convenience of the public and to 
the picturesque beauty of the design, by carrying the composi¬ 
tion beautifully into a pedimental form. The iron railing is of 
a very novel, beautiful and solid form, and the whole composi¬ 
tion grand and effective. The sculpture of this beautiful orna¬ 
ment to the western part of the metropolis was executed by 
Mr. Henning, and the masonry by Messrs. Bennett and Hunt. 

We will now return and inspect the alterations in progress at 
the new palace; but as the architect’s motto is, wait till I have 
finished , so, both our friend Shepherd must delay his pencil, and 
we our remarks, till it is nearer completion than it is at present. 


221 


CHAP. V. 


Architecture has its political uses; public buildings being the ornament of a 
country; it establishes a nation, draws people and commerce, makes the people love their 
native country, which passion is the original of all great actions in a commonwealth. 
Modern Rome subsists still, by the ruins and imitation of the old, as does Jerusalem by 
the Temple of the Sepulchre, and other remains of Helena’s zeal.” 

Wren. 


THE DESULTORY SURVEY CONTINUED-THE LONDON UNIVERSITY-THE COLLEGE * 

OF PHYSICIANS—CHRISTAS HOSPITAL AND OTHER LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC 
INSTITUTIONS—THE IMPROVEMENTS AT ST. BRIDE’S, FLEET STREET—THE 

NEW CHURCH OF ST. LUKE, CHELSEA-THE NEW CHAPEL OF EASE, ST. 

MARY-LE-BONE, AND OTHER NEW CHURCHES AND CHAPELS RECENTLY ERECTED 

-YORK HOUSE, ST. JAMESES PARK-LORD GROSVENOR’s GALLERY, PARK LANE 

-THE NEW CUSTOM HOUSE-NEW LONDON BRIDGE, CONTINUED-THE NEW 

SUSPENSION BRIDGE OVER THE THAMES AT HAMMERSMITH-THE NEW POST 

OFFICE-GUILDHALL-THE NEW HALL OF THE SALTER’S COMPANY, AND OTHER 

RECENT CITY IMPROVEMENTS-THE NEW TREASURY OFFICES WHITEHALL- 

THE KING’S THEATRE-WATERLOO PLACE AND REGENT STREET-LANDSCAPE 

SCENERY AND NEW VILLAS IN THE RRGENT’s PARK- WHITTINGTON’S ALMS 

HOUSES AND OTHER NEW BUILDINGS FOR CHARITABLE PURPOSES—THE BUR¬ 
LINGTON ARCADE—CROCKFORD’S CLUB HOUSE—THE TEMPLE OF THE MUSES- 

FINSBURY SQUARE—AND THE HORSE AND CARRIAGE REPOSITORY GRAy’s INN 
ROAD. c3 

Continuing our desultory survey from the last Chapter, we 
begin this with 

The London University. 

The first idea of founding a college in London, and erecting 
our metropolis into an university, originated with the Royal So¬ 
ciety in 1662, at the suggestion of Sir Christopher Wren, who 
drew up the scheme of their charter. To this I lent a feeble 



222 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

aid, in my Memoirs of that great architect, wherein I stated 
that* u among other important powers, granted to the council 
(of the Itoyal Society), on behalf of the Society, is one that 
they would do well to exercise at the present day ; lor it may 
well be asked, why should not London be an university as well 
as Paris, Edinburgh, or Dublin ? If the powers ol a lull uni¬ 
versity be likely to prove injurious to Oxford and Cambridge, 
or the dissipations of a metropolis to the scholars—at all events, 
a college, or polytechnic academy, where youths, natives of the 
metropolis, might be educated and reside with their parents, 
residents of London, at a less expense than boarding at the 
universities, as at present, would be worth the consideration of 
the Society. They have by their charter, full power and au¬ 
thority granted on the behalf of the Society to the council, to 
erect and build one or more colleges within London or ten miles 
thereof, of any form or quality soever , for habitation, assembling 
or meeting of the President, Council and Fellows, about any 
affairs or businesses of the Society.” 

Mr. Campbell the poet gave the next impetus, and accom¬ 
plished what had before been only talked about. The new in¬ 
stitution has met with such success, that a powerful rival, con¬ 
fining its objects exclusively to members of the church of 
England, has since started under the highest patronage. Thus, 
the London University , and King’s College , forming together a 
Metropolitan School of general knowledge, have given an im¬ 
pulse to society, of so beneficial a nature, that their founders 
must ever be ranked among the benefactors of mankind. 

Pliny, the younger, was so convinced of the necessity of edu¬ 
cating children at home, that in his Epistles, he addresses the 
people of Coma to the following effect, a portion of which the 
Council of the University have used as a motto to their second 
statement with great propriety. 

“ Where can your children,says this amiable and accom¬ 
plished philosopher, “ have a more agreeable residence than their 
own country? Where form their manners with more safety 
than in the sight of their fathers and mothers? and where 
will their expenses be less than at home? Is it not best,” he 

* Elmes’ Life of Wren, Quarto, London, 1823, p. 100. 

" I Pliny’s Epistles, Ep 13, Book 4. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 223 

continues, u for your children to receive their education in the 
same place where they have their birth, and to accustom them¬ 
selves from their infancy to love to reside in their native 
country.” 

The London University is erected upon the eastern side of 
an area of above seven acres of freehold ground, between Upper 
Gower Street, Bedford Square, and the New Road. The 
council obtained designs from several architects of eminence, and 
after due deliberation, finally adopted that of William Wilkins, 
Esq. R.A. a selection in which their own judgment coincided 
with that of almost every proprietor who inspected the draw¬ 
ings. The building in its execution had the benefit of the 
superintendance of Mr. J. P. Gandy Deering, A. R. A., the 
author of the well known work on Pompeii, in conjunction with 
Mr. Wilkins. The works have been scientifically executed by 
Messrs. Lee and Sons, the builders, who have engaged to com¬ 
plete the entire structure for the sum of £110,000. 

The building consists of a central part (see plate of the London 
University ), four hundred and thirty feet in length, with two 
wings, forming together three sides of a quadrangle, the cen¬ 
tral portico looking westward. 

That part of the edifice which is now finished, contains four 
theatres for lectures, each capable of containing four hundred 
and forty students; two lecture rooms that will accommodate 
two hundred and seventy students each ; five lecture rooms 
that will accommodate about one hundred and seventy each; a 
library and museum each one hundred and eighteen feet in 
length, by fifty feet in breadth, and twenty-three feet in 
height; a hall for public occasions, ninety feet in length, by 
forty-five feet in breadth, and twenty-three feet in height; an 
anatomical museum; a complete suite of rooms for the profes¬ 
sors and students of anatomy and surgery ; a laboratory and 
apparatus room for the professor of chemistry ; rooms for the 
reception of the apparatus of the professor of mechanical phi¬ 
losophy, and several smaller apartments for the accommodation 
of the council, the professors and officers of the establish¬ 
ment. 

As many of the students of the University remain there the 
greater part of the day, from an early hour in the morning, the 
council have taken care to provide due accommodations for 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


224 

their comforts, during the intervals between one lecture and 
another. For this purpose two rooms are appropriated to their 
use, and they have also a library and museum, besides a range 
of cloisters two hundred and thirteen feet in length, by twenty- 
four feet in breadth. There is also in the basement story, a 
range of apartments fitted up for the purpose of affording the 
students the convenience of obtaining refreshments. 

In the south range there is the above-mentioned cloister, for 
the exercise of the students during the intervals of study, and 
at the south of it is a lobby in which is the University Office, 
where all the financial business of the establishment will be 
conducted. At the foot of the staircase is the room of the 
clerk, and further on a room for the meetings of the council, 
and for the accommodation of the Warden. Opposite to this 
room is an apartment which is to be appropriated to the collec¬ 
tions of the professors of Botany and of Mineralogy and Geo¬ 
logy. A door from this room leads into the lower south theatre, 
which is to be used by the professors of Botany, who will lec¬ 
ture daily, from eight till nine in the morning, during the 
months of May, June and July, and those professors who 
have yet to be appointed. 

The ceremony of laying the first stone of this important In¬ 
stitution took place on Monday, the 30th of April, 1827. His 
Royal Highness, the Duke of Sussex, as Grand Master of the 
ancient order of Free Masons, on the invitation of the council, 
undertook this office, and presided afterwards at the dinner 
given in celebration of the event. Arrangements were previ¬ 
ously made by Mr. Wilkins, the architect, and by Messrs. Lee 
and Sons, the contractors, to accommodate the proprietors and 
their friends by a temporary scaffold on the ground. 

On the arrival of His Royal Highness, he was received by 
the Council, and by several proprietors, who were appointed to 
act as managers of the ceremony, and as stewards of the dinner; 
among whom were Lord Dacre, Lord Ebrington, Messrs. 
Brougham, Hobhouse, Denison, Butler, Fowell Buxton, Thomas 
Tooke and Colonel Broughton. The procession having reached 
the spot where the stone was to be laid, the Rev. Dr. Cox, the 
honorary Secretary of the Council, read the following inscrip¬ 
tion, engraved on a plate of copper, which was afterwards placed 
in a cavity of the stone. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


*225 


DEO • OPT: MAX : 

SEMPITERNO • ORBIS • ARCHITECTO • 

FAVENTE • 

QVOD • FELIX • FAVSTVM - Q VE • SIT- 
OCTAVVM • REGNI • ANNVM • INEVNTE • 
GEORGIO•QVARTO•BRITANNIARVM• 

REGE • 

CELSISSIMVS • PRINCEPS • AVGVSTVS • FREDERICVS • 

SVSSEXIAE • DVX • 

OMNIVM • BONARVM • ARTIVM • PATRONVS • 
ANTIQVISSIMI • ORDINIS • ARCHITECTONICI * 
PRAESES • APVD • ANGLOS • SVMMVS • 

PRIMVM ' LONDINENSIS • ACADEMIAE • LAPIDEM • 
INTER • CIVIVM • ET FRATRVM • 
CIRCVMSTANTIVM•PLAVSVS• 

MANV • SVA • LOCAVIT • 

PRID: KAL; MAII: 


OPVS • 

DIV • MVLTVM • Q VE • DESIDERATVM * 
VRBI • PATRIAE • COMMODISSIMVM • 
TANDEM • ALIQVANDO • INCHOATVM • EST • 
ANNO • SALVTIS * HVMANAE • 

M • d"* C • C • C • X • X • V • I • I • 

ANNO • LVCIS • NOSTRAE • 
M-M-M-M-M-D-C-C-C-X-X-V-I-I- 
NOMINA • CLARISSIMORVM • VIRORVM • 

QVI • SVNT • E • CONSILIO • 
BERNARDVS • EDVARDVS • DVX • NORFOLCIAE • 
HENRICVS • MARCHIO • DE • LANSDOWNE • 
DOMINVS • IOHANNES • RVSSELL • 
IOANNES • VICECOMES • DVDLEY • ET • WARD • 
GEORGIVS • BARO • DE • AVCKLAND • 
HONORABILIS • IAC • ABERCROMBIE • 
IACOBVS • MACKINTOSH • EQVES • 


ALEXANDER • BARING • 
HENRICVS • BROVGHAM • 
ISAAC • LYON • GOLDSMID 
GEORGIVS • GROTE • 

ZAC • MACAVLEY • 
BENIAMINVS • SHAW • 
GVLIELMVS • TOOKE • 
HENRICVS • WAYMOVTH • 


GEORGIVS • BIRKBECK • 
THOMAS - CAMPBELL • 
OLINTHVS • GREGORY • 
IOSEPHVS • HVME • 
IACOBVS • MILL • 
IOHANNES - [SMITH • 
HENRICVS • VVARBVRTON 
IOHANNES • WISHAW • 




THOMAS • WILSON • 


GVLIELMVS • WILKINS • ARCHITECTVS. 









226 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

The Rev. Edward Maltby, D.D. F.R.S., preacher of the 
honorable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, then offered up a very ap¬ 
propriate prayer, imploring the divine blessing on the Insti¬ 
tution, and that it might be crowned with success; so that 
the youth, hereafter to be trained in this seat of learning, 
might be distinguished no less for virtue than for knowledge ; 
so that loyalty and peace, truth and justice, religion and piety, 
may abound more and more. 

Stephen Lushington, LL.D., of Doctor’s Commons, and 
M.P. as representing the general body of proprietors, then 
came forward and addressed His Royal Highness the Duke of 
Sussex, in a gratulatory speech, on this most auspicious event; 
to which address His Royal Highness replied with thanks to 
the learned Doctor, to the proprietors and to their council, and 
acknowledging his perfect concurrence in all that had been so 
eloquently expressed by his learned friend, relative to the im¬ 
portance of the work in which they were engaged—that sur¬ 
rounded as he was by gentlemen of as high rank, fortune and 
character as any in the kingdom, he should consider the day on 
which he laid the first stone of the University of London, 
one of the proudest of his life—that while he concurred in the 
praises which had been bestowed on the existing Universities, 
he felt that there were many obstacles in the way of knowledge 
and of promotion, which he trusted the institution of the Uni¬ 
versity of London would remove—and that he hoped the interests 
of all would he successfully blended together. 

The commemorative dinner took place the same day at the 
Freemason’s Tavern ; His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex 
in the chair, supported on his right hand by his Grace the 
Duke of Norfolk, on his left by his Grace the Duke of Lein¬ 
ster ; and there were also present four hundred and thirty pro¬ 
prietors and friends of the Institution. 

The London University opened its first academical session in 
October, 1828, with the medical classes, and its regular session 
in the first week of the November following. 

The courses of Lectures which are at present delivered in the 
University are on the Roman Language and Literature , by Pro¬ 
fessor the Rev. John Williams, A.M. F.R.S.E. of Baliol Col¬ 
lege, Oxford ; the Greek Language, Literature and Antiquities, 
by Professor George Long, Esq. A.M., late Fellow of Trinity 

































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


227 


College, Cambridge; Mathematics , by Professor Augustus De 
Morgan, Esq., A. B. of Trinity College, Cambridge; Natural 
Philosophy and Astronomy , by Professor the Rev. Dionysius 
Lardner, LL.D. F.R.S. L. & E. M.R.I.A. F.C.P.S.F. Astro¬ 
nomical Society, &c. &c.; Chemistry , by Professor Edward 
Turner, M.D. F.R.S.E.; Logic and the Philosophy of the 
Human Mind , not yet appointed ; History , which as a matter of 
such first-rate importance, the Council have not yet been able to 
nominate a competent professor; Political Economy , by Professor 
John R. Maccullocli, Esq; Jurisprudence , by Professor John 
Austin, Esq. Barrister at Law, winch he purposes treating on, as 
introductory to the science, as considered with reference to its 
sources, and as considered with reference to its ends and subjects; 
English Law , by Professor Andrew Amos, Esq. Banister at 
Law, late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; the English 
Language and Literature , by Professor the Rev. Thomas Dale, 
A.M. of Corpus Clnisti College, Cambridge; the German Lan¬ 
guage and Literature , by Professor Ludwig Von Michlenfels, 
LL.D. of the University of Heidelberg; the Italian Language 
and Literature , by Professor Antonio Panizzi, LL.D. of the 
University of Parma; the Spanish Language and Literature, 
by Professor Don Antonio Alcala Galiano; the Hebrew Lan¬ 
guage , by Professor Hyman Hurwitz, Esq.; Comparative Ana¬ 
tomy and Zoology , by Professor Robert E. Grant, M.D. F.L.S. 
F.R.S.E. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh; 
Botany , by Professor John Lindley, F.R.S. L.S.G.S.; Anatomy , 
by Professor Granville Sharp Pattison, Esq.; Physiology , by 
Professor Charles Bell, Esq, F.R.S. L. & E. F.L.S. M.G.S. 
M.Z.S. and Professor to the Royal College of Surgeons; the Na¬ 
ture and Treatment of Diseases , by Professor John Conolly, 
M.D.; Midwifery and the Diseases of Women and Children , 
by Professor David D. Davis, M.D. M.R.S.L.; Materia Medica 
and Pharmacy , by Professor Anthony Todd Thomson, M.D. 
F.L.S.; Clinical Lectures on Medicine , by Professor Thomas . 
Watson, M.D. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians; 
Clinical Lectures on Surgery , by Professor Charles Bell, Esq. 
F.R.S. L. & E. and some others which arc not at present appointed. 

The professed object of the London University is to afford the 
utmost facility for the acquisition of knowledge in the various 
departments of literature and science, leaving at the same time to 

2 H 


228 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


each student, according to his peculiar taste or profession, an un¬ 
limited choice of the branches taught within its walls. 

The different branches of study, say the Council in their second 
statement explanatory of the plan of instruction adopted in their 
University, for which professors have been appointed, are such as 
properly belong to an University, and in the arrangement of the 
subjects to be taught in the classics, which will be attended by 
the junior students, it has been assumed that they will come pos¬ 
sessed of that elementary knowledge which boys who leave 
school at fourteen or fifteen years of age have generally ac¬ 
quired. 

The lecture rooms will be open to all who will comply with the 
terms and regulations of the University, without limitation as to 
age, and without examination as an indispensable preliminary. 
Another public advantage held out by the Council is, that persons 
who wish to attend the lectures of one professor only, will be ad¬ 
mitted ; but those who intend to apply for University certificates 
and other honorary distinctions, must go through certain courses 
of study; for these testimonials will be granted to such students 
only, as upon examination at regular intervals in the successive 
stages of their progress, are found to possess that knowledge by 
which the value of the certificate or of the academical honour 
will be determined. Other privileges will belong to those who 
enter the University for the purpose of following a regular course 
of education, which however will not be extended to occasional 
students. 

The academical session of the London University commences 
on the first of November in every year, and continues to the 
middle of July, with the exception of the medical classes, which 
open on the first of October and terminate about the end of May. 
There are also short vacancies at Christmas and Easter. 

For the medical students, the Council have made arrangements 
for temporary hospital and dispensary attendance, till such time 
as they shall have established both a hospital and a dispensary 
under their own direction and in their immediate neighbourhood, 
both of which desirable establishments are now in active prepara- 
t’on. 

The manner of conducting the examinations in the London 
University, and the frequency of then- recurrence, must necessa- 
rilv varv. In some branches thev form a part of the business 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


229 


oi every day; in others the professors examine their pupils on 
alternate days, and even at greater intervals where he finds it suffi¬ 
cient. Students are allowed to be present at the examinations 
without being required to take any part in them; but no student 
who wishes to obtain a certificate can be exempted from the 
examinations. 

As many of my readers in the country may wish to be ac¬ 
quainted with some of the leading particulars of this flourishing 
establishment, a few lines will not be misapplied in furnishing 
them with such information, taken from the two statements or re¬ 
ports of the Council. 

Besides affording the means of acquiring knowledge, the 
London University furnishes the public, with documentary evi¬ 
dence of the attainments of those students who are educated 
within its walls. There is therefore, in addition to the weekly ex¬ 
aminations, at the conclusion of every session a public examina¬ 
tion of all who may be desirous of obtaining a certificate from 
the professor whose course they have attended. The examiners 
consist of the professors of the particular department, and of such 
other persons as shall be specially appointed by the Council. 
As the value of these documents depend entirely upon the strict¬ 
ness of the examinations, such a system has been adopted by the 
Council and the examiners, as most accurately to determine the 
attainments of those to whom they are granted. 

Besides these certificates of the professors, the University grant 
certificates of general proficiency in literature and science. Every 
student is required to produce a certain number of professor’s cer¬ 
tificates, before he can be allowed to enter upon the examination 
for the general certificate. 

The Council have also set apart a portion of then* funds for 
collections in anatomy, natural history, books and philosophical 
apparatus; and they have opened by way of a beginning the 
smaller library and anatomical museum. They have already had 
donations of nearly one thousand volumes, some of them of great 
value, and they have also a large collection of books in the several 
branches of study, which are more than sufficient for the purposes 
of reference. The anatomical museum is not yet completed; but 
it contains already in the first instance, all that the professor of 
anatomy and other medical professors are likely to require, with 
provision for its rapid and indefinite extension. This museum 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


230 

has a more perfect collection of drawings of morbid structure 
than, I believe, has hitherto been applied to the purposes of 
teaching and study, and which will he peculiarly valuable to the 
student of the practice of medicine. 

Dr. A. T. Thomson, the professor of Materia Medica and 
Pharmacy, is collecting a museum in his own department, on a 
more extensive scale than has hitherto been attempted in that 
branch of medical science. The Council are also actively em¬ 
ployed in providing specimens for the illustration of zoology, bo¬ 
tany and other departments of science that require them. 

Dr. Lardner, the professor of Natural Philosophy and Astro¬ 
nomy, has been specially employed by the Council in the collec¬ 
tion of philosophical apparatus, which in scale and extent is com¬ 
mensurate with the great objects of the Institution. 

In the other departments of science the apparatus is not of so 
difficult or expensive a nature. In Chemistry, Dr. Turner has 
prepared all that is necessary to render the laboratory of the Uni¬ 
versity complete and efficient; and in all the other departments 
the same liberality on the part of the Council, and equal activity 
and knowledge on the part of the professors are manifest. 

For that part of the community who desire their sons to receive 
religious instructions according to the doctrines of the Church of 
England; the Rev. Dr. Lardner, and the Rev. Mr. Dale, two of 
the professors, who are clergymen of the Established Church, 
having from the period of their appointment, entertained the in¬ 
tention of providing religious instruction for those students who 
are members of our church, have given notice with the full appro¬ 
bation of the Council that they have arrangements, for that de¬ 
sirable end. For which purpose the Council have purchased an 
episcopal chapel contiguous to the University, which is called 
“ University Chapel,” where accommodations are afforded 
to the students for attendance at divine sendee, and where a 
course of divinity lectures are regularly delivered during the aca¬ 
demical session. 

Concerning the houses appointed by the University, for the 
reception of boarders, which is an affair of peculiar interest to 
such of our country readers as desire to avail themselves of the 
benefits offered by this Institution; the Council state, that they 
feel that their direct interference in the management of houses 
opened for the reception of boarders must necessarily be ineffi- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 231 

cient: and being unwilling to give a pledge that they might not 
he able to redeem, they have not attempted to lay down any rules 
for the conduct of the students beyond the walls of the Univer¬ 
sity. They therefore, in the public address, earnestly recommend 
to parents and guardians, in the first instance, to be scrupulously 
careful in examining the references given by persons opening such 
houses, and the experience they have already had, has established 
the character of those in whom confidence may be placed. For 
this purpose, they have empowered Mr. Taylor, the bookseller, and 
publisher to the University, to open a Register at his shop, No. 
30, Upper Gower Street, in which the names of such house¬ 
keepers as are willing to receive boarders are inserted, under cer¬ 
tain regulations, and with which those who wish to have their 
names entered and retained in the Register will be expected to 
comply. Some of the professors, also, receive boarders in their 
families. 

As a more active, constant and minute superintendence over the 
various concerns intrusted to the Council, than was compatible 
with the pursuits of its members, had become necessary; they 
came to the resolution, after many deliberations, of appointing a 
gentleman whose whole time and attention should be devoted to 
the management of the affairs of the University under their con- 
troul; that the progress of the building, the growing amount of 
their receipts and expenses, the necessity for communications 
between the Council and candidates for professorships, proprietors 
and others, the purchase of books and philosophical apparatus, 
and ultimately the admission and classification of students, with 
the framing and enforcing of rules of discipline,—called for the 
appointment of such an officer. 

The Council therefore, after careful enquiry, came to an una¬ 
nimous resolution, that from habits, experience,* character and 
acquirements, Leonard Horner, Esq. F.R.S. L. & E. F.G.S. 
&c. was peculiarly fitted for that situation : and, the Council 
having an anxious desire to consult the wishes of the great body 
of proprietors, and thinking it expedient in a matter of such great 
importance, not to proceed to the appointment of an officer to so re¬ 
sponsible a trust, without having previously received the sanction 
of a general meeting, submitted their proceedings on this head to 


* Statement of the Couneil, p. 56. 


232 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


a special general meeting of proprietors, on Wednesday, the 30th 
of May, 1827. 

This meeting having deliberated upon the proposition of the 
Council for the appointment of such an officer with a salary, una¬ 
nimously resolved, that they approved of the proposed appoint¬ 
ment of a salaried officer to have constant superintendence of the 
affairs of the University under the Council. They also recom¬ 
mended the Council immediately to appoint Mr. Horner to that 
office, with such title and remuneration as they should deter¬ 
mine. 

That gentleman was therefore appointed to this high and dis¬ 
tinguished office under the title of Warden. To this gentleman, 
therefore, or to Mr. Thomas Coates, the Clerk of the Council, to 
the two statements published by the Council, (the first explana¬ 
tory of the nature and objects of the institution, and the second 
of the plan of instruction) ; and to a description of the building 
printed from the Report of the Council to the proprietors of the 
30th of September, 1828, I take leave to refer my numerous 
readers for any further information that they may require concern¬ 
ing the University of London. 

Having now taken a brief review of this great and important 
public undertaking, we will transfer our attention to 

The Royal College of Physicians, 

another distinguished feature among the learned and scientific 
bodies of our great metropolis. This eminent medical society was 
established in 1523, by a charter from king Henry VIII. which 
authorized its council to prevent any person from publicly prac¬ 
tising as a physician, within seven miles of London, without pre¬ 
viously becoming either a fellow or a licentiate of the College. 
Nor can any person become a fellow without having taken the 
degree of bachelor, or doctor of medicine at Oxford or Cambridge; 
or admitted a licentiate without studying two years at an English 
University, or obtaining a diploma from Edinburgh, Glasgow, or 
Dublin, and submitting to an examination as to his professional 
knowledge before the censors of the College. 

The Society’s first College was a mansion in Knightrider Street, 
Doctor’s Commons, that was given to them by Dr. Linacre, phy- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 233 

sician to king Henry VIII. They afterwards removed to a house 
which they purchased in Amen Corner, Paternoster Row*, where 
Di. Harvey built a library and a public Hall, which he granted 
foi e\ er to the College, and endowed it with his estate, which he 
lesigned to them in his life time. Part of this estate is assigned 
tor an annual oration in commemoration of their munificent bene¬ 
factor, and to provide a dinner for the members of the College. 
This building was burned down in the great fire of 1666, after 
'which the Society purchased a piece of ground on the west side 
of Warwick Lane, and raised a considerable sum in 1674 for the 
erection of a new College. Sir John Cutler offering to subscribe 
a large donation, a committee was appointed to wait upon him to 
thank him for his liberality; and, in 1668, statues in honour of 
the king and the liberal donor were ordered to be executed at the 
expense of the College. In 1689, the buildings being completed, 
the fellows borrowed a sum of money of Sir John to defray the ex¬ 
penses ; but, upon his death, to their great surprize, his executors 
demanded upwards of seven thousand pounds of them; as in his 
books he had made them debtors, not only for the sum he had 
lent them; but also for the sum he had given them, and all the 
accumulated interest. The executors at length accepted two 
thousand pounds, and the College expunged the inscription of the 
old miser’s liberality from under liis statue, that still remains in a 
niche in the western front of the theatre, which is still standing 
in Warwick Lane. 

This building was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and 
finished in 1689. The Theatre, two plans, an elevation, and a 
section of which are given in my Life of Sir Christopher Wren, 
is one of the best that can be imagined for seeing, hearing and 
classification of the students, fellows and lecturers, and for the 
display of anatomical demonstrations or philosophical experiments 
upon a table in the middle of the arena, of any building of its 
size in existence. This admirable structure being now abandoned 
by the learned and scientific body that so long inhabited it, and 
its demolition being near at hand, it is worth the inspection of the 
investigating architect before it is destroyed. 

As the majority of the leading physicians and of their opulent 
patients, now reside more to the westward of the metropolis 
than thev did in the reign of Charles II. when the fellows as- 


234 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

sembled in that goodly building of brick and stone, which Dr. 
Garth describes in his Dispensary, as a place 

“ Where stands a dome majestic to the sight. 

And sumptuous arches bear its oval height; 

A golden globe placed high with artful skill. 

Seems to the distant sight a gilded pill.” 

They have removed their establishment to an elegant and commo¬ 
dious building in Pall Mall East, erected from the designs of Mr. 
Smirke. This structure is part of a large mass of building, which 
on the north side faces Pall Mall East, on the east a square not 
yet finished, looking towards St. Martin’s Church, and on the 
south towards Cockspur Street. 

The principal front of this substantial and elegant structure is 
next Pall Mall East, and is composed of an hexastyle projecting 
portico of the Ionic order, which supports a well proportioned pe¬ 
diment. (See plate of the New College of Physicians Pall 
Mall East.) The front is elongated by two antae, one on each 
side of the portico, which is repeated with a break between them 
in the flank or eastern front, and has a distinguishing centre-piece 
of two slightly projecting antae and an elevated attic, with a ba¬ 
lustrade in each wing. 

The building is divided into two stories, and the windows are 
decorated with architraves and subcornices. The columns are 
beautifully wrought with a delicate entasis or swell, so charac¬ 
teristic of the pure Greek School, of which its architect, Mr. 
Smirke is such an eminent disciple. The architrave however is 
disfigured by three faciae, winch should never enter (in spite of 
antique precedent), into any order but the Corinthian, to keep the 
characteristics of each distinct. When the sun has past the west, 
on a clear summers day, the effect of this fine portico is very 
splendid; diversified as it is, by the deep and broad shadow cast 
from the entablature and pediment, the perpendicular lines of the 
fluted columns, and the contrast of the shadowed eastern front, 
which continued forms, with a corresponding wing, and a receding 
portico of the same order, the principal front of the United Ser¬ 
vice Club House. See plates of Improvements, Charing Cross, 
and of the opening of St. Martin's Church, where the portico of 
the College of Physicians forms a beautiful fore-piece on the left 
hand side of the picture. 



Hoxiea iHi crNSina shsdjhxs sih as; 













































































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


235 

We will now proceed to an examination of a building, which is 
a perfect contrast to the preceding, namely, 

, The New Hall, Christ’s Hospital. 

The origin and progress of this celebrated seminary of sound 
learning, which has given so many useful members to society, is 
too well known to need repetition in this place. 

The building that we have just surveyed, is of the purest clas¬ 
sical style of ancient Greece; and that which is now before us 
(see plate of the New Hall of Christ's Hospital ), is of the pure 
classical style of ancient England. 

The exterior is raised upon an arcade of flat pointed arches, 
which form a cloister for the boys to play under in wet weather, 
and is terminated at each end by two large and lofty octagonal 
turrets finished on the top with panels and embrasures. The hall, 
which is erected above the cloisters and separated by an orna¬ 
mented string course, consists externally of nine lofty and spa¬ 
cious windows of the pointed style, divided into three heights, 
and four widths by moulded stone mullions. The windows are 
divided by well proportioned buttresses that support the principal 
trusses of the roof, and are finished by lofty octagonal pinacles 
and foliated finials. The centre of each window is again marked 
by intermediate pinacles supported by sculptured corbels, and the 
parapet is formed between them of moulded embrasures. 

This beautiful elevation is constructed with fine Heytor granite, 
of a close compact nature, and of a beautiful gray colour, which 
harmonizes in a singularly beautiful manner with the architec¬ 
ture. 

The interior is two hundred feet in length by fifteen in width. 
A spacious gallery runs along the side opposite to the windows 
and the two ends, from which the public at certain times of the 
year are admitted to hear the children sing anthems and other 
pieces of sacred music, and sup in public. At one end is a fine 
organ, and a pulpit is affixed under the centre window for the 
purposes of divine service. The decorations are bold and mas¬ 
sive, the brackets of the ceiling, the beams, and the galleries of 
oak, and the walls finished a plain light stone colour. 

As we are on the subject of religious and learned institutions, 

let ns take a view of 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


‘J3fi 


The College of the Church Missionary society, 

a building more remarkable for strength and goodness of construc¬ 
tion than for elegance of design. It looks more like the baldness 
of northern Calvinism, than the chaste beauties of the simply de¬ 
corated church of England. Some one must have stripped this 
well proportioned edifice of its laudable embellishments, as brother 
Jack did his‘garment in the Tale of the Tub. Its architect is Mr. 
William Brooks, whose w r orks of the London Institution, 
Finsbury Chapel and other ornaments of the metropolis, we have 
more than once had occasion to notice with approbation in these 
pages. It consists of a centre and two wings, without a single at¬ 
tempt at architectural decoration. See plate of the College of the 
Church Missionary Society , Islington. It is however a plain, 
substantial, useful building, and well adapted to a very laudable 
purpose. 

Another similar establishment, wiiose peculiar merit it is now 
part of my duty to investigate is 

Highbury College, 

a building of more pretensions, and of more real architectural 
beauty. It consists of a centre and two very deeply projecting 
wings. In the middle of the centre building is an hexastyle 
Ionic portico, of the Ilyssus example, with a well proportioned 
pediment above it. The ends of the projecting wings are tetras- 
tyle in antis, and have also pediments and acroteiia which conceal 
chimneys within them. See plate of Highbury College. The 
portico is raised a few steps above the court yard, which is en¬ 
closed from the high road by iron railings raised upon a lofty 
plinth, and a handsome carriage and two postern entrances. It 
reflects much credit on the architect for the selection of his ma¬ 
terials from the choice storehouse of Ionian antiquities. 

Another, although not very recent Metropolitan Improvement, 
is 

The Russell Institution. 

in Great Coram Street Russell Square, wherein I had the honour 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


237 


of delivering a course of lectures on architecture in 1821 to a 
very intellectual and attentive auditory. 

It was originally erected by and from the designs of James 
Burton, Esq. whose elegant villa, the Holme in the Regent’s 
Park, occupied our attention in the early part of this work. The 
original intention of this substantial-looking building, was for an 
assembly, concert and card rooms. It was built about the year 
1800 , and in 1808 was purchased by a company of proprietors, 
and appropriated to its present purpose, literature. It contains 
an extensive library, of which the present librarian, Edward 
Wedlake Brayley, Esq. has recently published a systematized 
catalogue, consisting of a very select collection of the most useful 
works in ancient and modem literature. 

The reading rooms and library are also provided with all the 
leading periodical publications, and the current pamphlets of the 
day. The library is a spacious room, the whole length of the 
front, and there are also convenient newspaper rooms, a theatre 
for lectures and private rooms for the librarian. 

The front next Coram Street is distinguished by a tetrastyle 
portico of the Doric order, with triglyphs; the cornice and frieze 
of which runs through the wings and flanks, divested of the trig¬ 
lyphs. See plate of the Russell Institution , Great Coram 
Street. There are also two low sub-porticoes which descend to 
a suite of baths, but as they are recent additions, they must not 
be considered in estimating the value of this imposing and chaste 
elevation. 

Among all the recent improvements which have taken place 
within the metropolis in our days, most deserving attention, is that 
now called 

St. Bride’s Avenue, 

which opens to public view, Sir Christopher Wren’s majestic 
steeple of St. Bride, Fleet Street. This church is a fabric of 
great strength and beauty, and forms one of the most striking 
features of the metropolis. Its interior is at once spacious, com¬ 
modious and elegant, is one hundred and eleven feet in length, 
fifty-seven feet in breadth, and forty-one in height; composed of 
a lofty nave, covered with an arched ceiling and two aisles, sepa¬ 
rated below by solid piers, which form pedestals and support 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


238 

coupled columns of the Doric order above, from the capitals ot 
which spring the arches of the nave and aisles. 

Until the time of the dissolution of the monasteries by king 
Henry VIII. the patronage of this church was with the abbot 
and convent of Westminster, then a rectory, and afterwards a 
vicarage. This arrangement was revoked by king Edward VI. 
but queen Mary restored it to the abbot and his convent. Queen 
Elizabeth confirmed it in the second year of her reign to the dean 
and chapter of Westminster, in whose patronage it still remains. 

The peculiar ornament to St. Bride’s church is its beautiful 
tower and well proportioned spire, which is second only to that of 
Bow, in beauty, and fully its equal in scientific construction. 

The old church was so much damaged by the great fire in 
1666, that it was obliged to be demolished and entirely rebuilt. 
It was completed in 1680, and further embellished in 1699. 

The first stone of the massive tower and lofty steeple, which 
are now tlirown open by tins fine improvement, was laid on the 
4th of October, 1701, and the spire was completed and the 
weather-cock put up on the 3d of September, 1703. In this 
masterly work Sir Christopher Wren was, as is well known, the 
architect; but I ought also to record that Mr. William Dickenson 
was his under surveyor, or, as we now call that officer, clerk of 
the works, and Mr. Samuel Fulks, mason. The entire height of 
this fine piece of architecture, before it was reduced a few feet, 
on its rebuilding by Sir William Staines, was two hundred and 
thirty-four feet, which is thirty-two feet higher than the Doric co¬ 
lumn on Fish Street Hill.* 

The form of this fine emanation from the scientific mind of 
Wren, as seen from the north side of Fleet Street, looking up the 
avenue (see plate of St. Bride's Avenue), is, first, from a lofty 
plain tower of masonry, forming a base higher than the neigh¬ 
bouring houses, crowned with a well-proportioned cornice. On 
this tower rises a stylobate, or continued plinth, which supports a 
second cubical tower of the Corinthian order, covered with cir¬ 
cular-headed pediments, and finished with a blocking course and 
a balustrade, with a corresponding vase on each angle. Between 
these vases, and behind the balustrade, begins the spire or steeple, 
which is octagonal in plan, each face containing an aperture co- 

* Elmeb’s Life of Wrkn, page 394. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 239 

\eied with a semicircular-headed arch. A series of these octa¬ 
gonal arcades, setting off by degrees, in just proportion, as Prior 
says, 

w Fine by degrees^ and beautifully less,” 

rise one above the other, till the upper one is reduced to a size 
sufficient to commence the yet lofty obelisk that crowns the whole, 
and is terminated by a ball and weather-cock, the vane of which 
is six feet four inches in length. 

This spire has at various times suffered much from the effects 
of storms, to which its extraordinary height and peculiar form 
renders it liable. In June, 1764, it was much damaged by a 
storm of thunder and lightning, by which several stones were torn 
out, one of which fell into the church, doing much damage, and 
others were carried to a considerable distance. In 1805 a similar 
accident occurred, when it was repaired and reduced eight feet in 
height, as I have before mentioned. 

Universal as were the complaints made, of all our finest structures 
being cooped up by mean and lofty buildings, few were so choked 
on every side, to within a few yards of its base, as this edifice. 
A calamity, which was of itself of sufficiently distressing conse¬ 
quences, had, however, the redeeming qualities of laying open this 
fine structure to Fleet Street. 

A fire, which happened on the 14th of November, 1824, de- 
destroyed all the houses from the comer of St. Bride’s Passage, (as 
a narrow nook of a court by the side of Messrs. Davenport & Co. r s 
china warehouse was called,) to the shoemaker’s shop adjoining 
the new houses, since built, and thus made a spacious opening, 
and surprized the public with the newly-discovered beauties of St. 
Bride. 

The inhabitants of this large and public-spirited parish had 
scarcely recovered from the alarm into which this calamity had 
thrown them, when, like their fellow-citizens at the time of the 
great conflagration in 1666, they commenced a design for im¬ 
provement, instead of fruitlessly bewailing their loss. A meeting 
was soon held in the vestry-room, and measures taken to remove 
all the obstructions which had so long eclipsed the greatest orna¬ 
ment of their parish. 

A design was prepared by my old and highly esteemed friend, 
Mr. John Buonarotti Papworth, who was employed as architect to 


240 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


reinstate the houses of Mr. Galloway and Mr. H. Marriott, and to 
whom the honour of proposing the present effective design is en¬ 
tirely due. I say effective , because when the whole spot was 
vacant, it appeared no more than large enough for a fair view, and 
if all had been proposed, the magnitude of the expense would 
have annihilated the scheme; hut, by the present judicious plan 
of rendering a small space trumpet-mouthed as it were, widening 
it in the upper stories where the property is less expensive, and 
keeping it narrow below where it is dearer, he brought the expense 
within compass; and had the committee waited till all the sub¬ 
scription had been raised, before they began then* works, the great 
defalcation, which amounts to many thousand pounds out of the 
pockets of one parishioner, John Blades, Esq. formerly sheriff of 
London, would not have occurred. 

As, however, it is probable that another public meeting may 
yet be called to render an account of the outlay; it is to be hoped 
that an ample indemnification may be made to the parties who 
have so well concluded their labours, and that the public will de¬ 
fray the defects of balance between the receipts and expenditure. 
Indeed I doubt not, but it will be met by a similar liberality to 
that which created the improvements, without which and corres¬ 
ponding exertions on the part of the Committee, the architect, and 
all concerned in it, could never have been accomplished; but poor 
St. Bride, and her acknowledged beauties, must have been impri¬ 
soned once more in St. Bride’s Passage, with only the original 
crooked aperture of a breathing place to give light and air to her 
civic dungeon. 

To revert, however, for a short time to the history of these im¬ 
provements, which I shall give briefly by way of encouragement 
to my neighbours on any other similar proposition; a meeting 
was called by the Lord Mayor (Alderman Garratt), at the solicita¬ 
tion of the leading inhabitants of the parish, of the clergy, mer¬ 
chants, bankers, traders and other friends to the improvement of 
the metropolis , and held at the London Tavern, at which the 
Lord Mayor presided. 

The preliminary address from those public spirited-parishoners 
who proposed the meeting is so excellent, that I cannot refr ain 
from giving the leading points of it. 

It announced that such a meeting as I have just mentioned 
would be held on Tuesday, the 4tli of January, 1825, to take 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 241 

"into consideration the best means of preserving the view which 
has been accidentally opened to the public , of that beautiful 
edifice , the tower and spire of St. Bride's Church :—and that 
the Right Honorable the Lord Mayor, would take the chair at 
two o’clock precisely. 

They admitted that among the reflections which foreigners have 
cast upon the good taste of this country, the only one for which, 
perhaps, there is much foundation in truth, was—that while the 
metropolis of the British empire possessed within itself, architec¬ 
tural beauties and ornaments which would not have been unwor¬ 
thy of the proudest sera of the arts, they are so completely ob¬ 
scured by surrounding buildings, that a view of them can scarcely 
be obtained. A striking illustration of this position has recently 
been afforded by the destruction of several houses forming pail of 
the south side of Fleet Street, which has opened to the public 
view the tower and spire of St. Bride's Church. 

This structure, they say, (and here I think I have the accom¬ 
plished pen of my Mend Pap worth), which for proportion, sym¬ 
metry and grandeur, is not surpassed, if equalled by any spire in 
this country, and which possesses this strong claim upon the 
public attention, that it was designed by one of the most eminent 
architects England (why did they not say Europe) ever produced 
—Sir Christopher Wren —and is acknowledged to be his 
chef d' oeuvre , has, after having been concealed by a range of 
houses from the sight of the public for upwards of a century, been 
accidentally developed, and the fact that it may be made highly 
conducive to the beauty and ornament of the metropolis clearly 
shown. 

To those who are aware, say the Committee, how much the 
character of a nation for refined taste and encouragement of the 
fine ails, depends upon the traits of those qualities observable in 
its metropolis, a cause of great regret would arise if an architec¬ 
tural gem like this were again consigned to obscurity, which will 
shortly happen unless the public liberality shall afford the means 
of preventing it. 

The great improvement to the metropolis which will be accom¬ 
plished, they add, should the proposed plan be carried into effect, 
originated in a spontaneous demonstration of the great interest 
which the public felt in the measure, and it was a firm reliance on 
that spirit of general improvement, which so honourably distin- 


242 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


guishes the present age, that produced the determination to submit 
this subject to the consideration of a public meeting. 

In consequence of this address a public meeting was subse¬ 
quently held on Tuesday, January 4,1825, which was numerously 
and most respectably attended. As an humble admirer of Sir 
Christopher Wren, I was early at my post, and took an undivided 
interest in the debate which then took place. 

The Lord Mayor was unanimously called to the chair, and 
opened the business in a very clear and able manner. Mr. Thomas 
Wilson, then one of the city representatives in parliament, fol¬ 
lowed with an excellent speech, and moved, 

u That one of the strongest proofs of the high degree of ad¬ 
vancement in a taste for the fine arts, which the people of England 
have attained, is to be found in that desire for the improvement 
and embellishment of the metropolis, which so honourably distin¬ 
guishes the present age.” 

This was seconded by Mr. A. Spottiswoode, M. P. who ex¬ 
pressed a hope that as a beginning was now about to take place 
in practically evincing our high regard for the architectural 
beauties of the metropolis, and particularly for the improvement 
of the city, it would be the forerunner of other and greater im¬ 
provements which were much required. 

It was then moved by Mr. W. Williams, M. P. and seconded by 
Mr. Martin Cutler, 

“ That the view recently opened of the tower and spire of St. 
Bride’s Church, by the demolition of several houses in Fleet Street, 
which had obscured it from the public sight for upwards of a 
century, having clearly shown that this building may be made 
highly conducive to the beauty and ornament of the metropolis, 
and particularly when the adjoining buildings are made to enter 
into architectural combination with it” (see the plate) “ as shown 
in the plan, it appears to this meeting very desirable that the view 
thus obtained should be preserved.” 

Mr. Blades, the late sheriff, moved the third resolution, and 
among other observations, begged leave to assure the meeting, 
that if he weie to be, as it seemed he was to be, their treasurer, 
not a shilling of the money should be spent improperly. He then 
addressed himself to the object of the resolution, saying it would 
be superfluous in him to attempt to add a single word in support 



















































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


‘243 

of it, as he felt that the whole of the meeting would go cordially 
with him in adopting it. He therefore moved, 

That this structure, which for proportion, symmetry and gran¬ 
deur of effect, is not surpassed, if equalled, by any spire in this 
country, also possesses this strong claim upon the public attention, 
that it was designed by one of the most eminent architects that 
England ever produced, Sir Christopher Wren.” 

Mr. Obbard seconded this resolution, and observed that the sum 
proposed would only just carry the object into effect within the 
narrowest possible limits; but if more was given, much more 
could be done, and the space now opened would admit of a con¬ 
siderably larger sum being expended. 

Mr. Galloway said, that previous to the question being put, he 
begged to congratulate the Lord Mayor and the meeting at finding 
the people of tins country come forward in aid of public improve¬ 
ment; and after many very pertinent observations, said, that 
England could boast but of few such genuisses as Sir Christopher 
Wren, whose talent reflected honour on us all. He also was 
proud of the honour of being acquainted with the architect (Mr. 
Pap worth), who had made the design for the present improvement, 
and he would say that no man could have been chosen who was 
better able to perform it. His talents and Ins general knowledge 
could not be surpassed, and he was convinced, that if Sir Chris¬ 
topher Wren could rise from the grave, he would bear testimony 
to the opinion he had just expressed.—He hoped this was but the 
commencement of the improvements to be made in the city. I 
hope so too, and that Mr. Galloway in his corporate capacity will 
lend his aid. 

Mr. Marriott, also was one who felt most anxious to see this 
country surpass all others in her architectural beauties, and in the 
encouragement of the fine aids. This gentleman, I am happy to 
bear testimony to, was the first to suggest this idea, for he had 
long considered the metropolis had been deprived of a view of the 
finest specimen of British genius that the world could boast; and 
he felt that now an opportunity had been thus—it mattered not 
now how calamitously—offered to improve the city, and do jus¬ 
tice to the national taste, it would be the proper time to propose 
it to the public. 

Mr. Slade, who took such an active part in promoting the in¬ 
tended improvements to the area and avenues round St. Paul’s, 

2 K 


244 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


moved tlie fourth resolution, and said lie would confine himself to 
the observation, that it appeared to him that we were now in pos¬ 
session of a very great mine of taste, and he trusted we should 
explore it well. They had all read, he exclaimed, in the Cathe¬ 
dral of St. Paul, the words inscribed to the memory of that great 
man whose work they were now solicitous to display—“ Si monu¬ 
ment urn requiris circumspice so would he point out and say, 
“ now look around you , and behold that monument /” He 
hoped that this day was only the harbinger of many other days, 
the labours of which would be devoted to the improvements of the 
city. He saw around him many gentlemen who met last year 
(alluding to the public meeting for the purpose of carrying Mr. 
Elmes’s plan for the improvement of the area and avenues round 
St. Paul’s), to form a Committee for public improvements, but they 
did not meet with that encouragement that they ought to have 
done. But he did trust that this was a successful commencement 
of that general improvement, and that ere long this city would, 
like Dublin, have a perpetual Committee for improvement; and 
he was sure that a fund could be derived from a source that would 
not effect the interests of any—he meant that one shilling per 
chaldron, arising from the port duty on coals, should be appro¬ 
priated to that purpose. He then moved 

“ That the carrying into effect the plan now proposed, will, in 
one instance at least, rescue the national taste from the reflection so 
often cast on it by foreigners, that while the metropolis of the 
British empire contains public edifices which would not have 
been unworthy of the proudest era of the aids, they are so com¬ 
pletely concealed by the surrounding buildings that a view of them 
can scarcely be obtained.” 

Mr. Atwood Smith seconded the motion with some appropriate 
observations. 

Sir Peter Laurie in moving the fifth resolution, alluded to the 
accident which they were now met to improve to the public ad¬ 
vantage, and to the many other architectural improvements that 
were necessary. Pie thought there was a very vitiated taste in 
this country, in making our places of misery and of refuge, houses 
of ornament, and a display of public magnificence, instead of 
throwing them in the shade, and keeping them from the public 
eye. When a foreigner, he said, first came to London and beheld 
our Bethlem Hospital, he must think we were all mad. He 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


245 


thought it bad taste to make such a display of our gaols, our bed¬ 
lams, our hospitals, instead of our churches and our palaces. It 
gave him great pleasure to hear Mr. Galloway advocate the mea¬ 
sure, for although he said he was no friend to the church, yet he 
admired the steeple. 

Mr. Galloway corrected the worthy Alderman, saying, that 
although he had been represented by persons who knew him not, 
as being no admirer of the church, yet to convince them how 
wrongly they judged him, he most readily made a personal sacri¬ 
fice, in order to bring out to public view the beauty, symmetry 
and general excellence of St. Bride’s steeple. 

Sir Peter then moved the following resolution:— 

“ That relying upon the encouragement usually given by the 
public to works of national ornament and utility, a subscription 
be now opened, to which the public be respectfully invited to con¬ 
tribute.” 

Mr. Butterwortli seconded the motion, and said that he had a 
very high respect for the church in general; and he had also a 
great esteem for this steeple in particular, and thought it was only 
necessary to see its beauties to confirm the propriety of its not 
being again suffered to be hidden. 

Mr. Poynder moved the sixth resolution, and regretted that the 
worthy Chamberlain of that great city, whom he saw on his 
right, had not moved it, as he was much more competent to do so 
than himself. It had been already said, that it is an ill wind that 
blows nobody any good. There was also another very common 
saying, which he would venture to repeat, which was, that a 
penny saved was a penny gained, and lie would on the same prin¬ 
ciple say, that a steeple saved was a steeple gained. The steeple 
which had been hidden for a century was now revealed to us—and 
therefore it was a steeple gained. As a proof of the high esteem 
in which Sir Christopher Wren was held by his cotemporaries, he 
begged to remind the meeting of the following anecdote:—When 
Sir Christopher was bowed down by infirmities, he had occasion 
to go to the bar of the House of Commons, and, as he entered, 
the members of the British senate all rose as one man, to testify 
the honour which they felt to be due to that great man. He then 
proposed, 

“ That the following gentlemen be a Committee, with power 


246 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS, 

to add to tlieir number, and to apply 


into effect the plan now produced, namely, 

The Right Honorable the Lord Mayor, 


Mr. Alderman Waithman, M.P. 
Thomas Wilson, Esq. M.P. 
William Williams, Esq. M.P. 
Mr. Alderman Wood, M.P. 

Mr. Alderman Thompson, M.P. 
Mr. Chamberlain Clarke, 

Rev. Thomas Clare, the Vicar 
of St. Bride’s, 

John Blades, Esq. 


the subscriptions in carrying 


Andrew Spottiswood, Esq. M.P. 
William Brooks, Esq. 

Mr. Churchwarden M‘Do wall, 
John Poynder, Esq. 

Martin Cutler, Esq. 

James Barbridge, Esq. 

Henry Marriott, Esq. 

Robert Obbard, Esq. 


John Blades, Esq. Treasurer. 
Atwood Smith, Esq. Honorary Secretary. 


These are the gentlemen, and the foregoing are a brief sketch 
of the leading features, that led to this great and beautiful metro¬ 
politan improvement, which I hope is not the last that I shall 
have the satisfaction to record. 

The public and the Committee having done so much for the 
church, I think it would he but grateful of the parish, who are so 
much benefited, to erect the little entrance gate at the termination 
of the avenue, as originally designed by the architect and the 
Committee. It would he an improvement in every sense. 

Being now on the subject of churches, let me call your atten¬ 
tion to 

The New Church of St. Luke, Chelsea. 

It is not too much praise to say that this handsome church is 
one of the most successful attempts in modern times, at a revival 
of our ancient English style of ecclesiastical architecture. It is 
designed by my old friend and fellow student James Savage, and 
is highly creditable to his acknowledged taste and research. 

Mr. Savage had attained by his studies in the Royal Academy, 
and by many of his earliest buildings, particularly his classical 
little Athenian chapel in Wells Street, Hackney, and his scientific 
bridges over the Liffey in Dublin, and over the Ouse near Temps- 



METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 247 

foul in Bedfordshire, the character of a Grecian architect of ele¬ 
vated taste; and this production, in so totally different a style of 
architecture, proves that he has studied the beautiful models of his 

native country, with the same happy results that he has those of 
Attica. 

The style of architecture that Mr. Savage has taken for his 
type is that which prevailed in this country during the latter part 
of the fourteenth and earlier part of the fifteenth centimes. 

The western or principal front is a lofty commanding elevation 
(see the plate of St. Luke's Church , Chelsea) of three parts; 
namely, a central tower of great originality and beauty, and two 
side porticos in front of the aisles of equal originality, beauty 
and utility, without which the beauty of Solomon’s porch itself 
were vain and frivolous. Indeed the circumstance of the appli¬ 
cation of a porch in this style of architecture may he considered 
as almost unique ; that of Peterborough Cathedral, of which this 
before us is not the slightest imitation, being, I believe, almost the 
only instance of such an adaptation of what, almost exclusively 
belongs to the architecture of Greece and Rome. 

This portico, for it is too decided in its character to he called a 
porch, consists of five principal parts, a grand central arch under 
the middle of the tower, and two side arches of smaller dimen¬ 
sions on either side. These arches are separated from each other 
by piers and buttresses and are surmounted by a perforated parapet 
of tracery work and pinacles with crockets and finials. The arches 
are pointed, and in proportion resemble those of Salisbury Cathe¬ 
dral. They are also finished above the crown moulding, with 
crocheted labels, rising into a graceful curve, and terminated by 
a foliated finial. The centre arch is farther decorated by a trian¬ 
gular pediment also finished in a similar manner with crockets 
and a finial, which rise up boldly into the great western window. 

Behind this arcade, or portico, which is terminated at either 
end by an arch in correspondence with those in front, and a per¬ 
forated parapet following the rake of the roof, is seep the western 
windows and raking parapet of the two aisles, and the flying but¬ 
tresses which spring from the lower wall-buttresses of the aisles 
to the upper buttresses of the lofty nave. These upper buttresses 
rise beautifully above the panelled tracery of the upper parapet, 
and are richly decorated as they rise with delicate foliated crockets 
and finials; illustrating the practice of our ancient English arclii- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


248 

tects of adding richness as they rise—an omission ol which was 
noticed in the west elevation of St. Katherine’s Hospital. 

Following this sure canon of taste, Mr. Savage has added to 
the ornaments of every story of his tower, the proportions of 
which are illustrated, not overlaid by their introduction. The 
tower rises to an elevation of one hundred and forty-two feet from 
the ground to the top of the pinacles, and is scpiarc on its plan. 
Each angle is guarded by an octangular buttress, one quarter of 
which, like three-quarter columns of the Roman and Italian ar¬ 
chitects is buried in and connected with the masonry of the main 
walls. They are banded at intervals, which get closer as they 
rise, by moulded string courses, and above and below each stoiy 
of windows, by a continued panelled string course on the main 
walls of the tower. 

The lower windows of the tower are divided by stone moulded 
mullions into four lights in width and three stories in height, ex¬ 
clusive of the elaborate tracery of the curved triangle of the 
pointed arch. These windows are recessed into the walls, and 
have plain labels or water tables above them, but the upper win¬ 
dows, which appertain to the belfry, have them curvilinear, with 
the addition of crockets and foliated finials. These windows are 
divided by stone moulded mullions, like those below, into three 
intervals, and are not glazed, but have louvre boards , as they are 
called, of stone , let into the mullions; they are but of one story in 
height up to the under side of the tracery of the arch. 

Between these two stories of windows are square projecting 
panels, in the north, south and west sides, placed lozenge wise, 
which contain three dials of the clock, and on a level with the 
finials of the upper windows, a connecting cornice pervades every 
side and follows the outline of the octangular buttresses. This 
gives a richness of effect, while it sen es as a connecting band to 
the whole. Above this are a series of pointed sunk panels, con¬ 
tinued on every side of the buttresses as well as the walls, and 
above them the perforated walls and embrasures of the parapet. 
Each buttress is then surmounted by an octangular pinacle, rising- 
two stories of similar perforations above the upper moulding of 
the parapet, and diminishing gradually by setts-off till they termi¬ 
nate in a slender, delicate and tasteful finial. 

These pinacles being composed of elaborate, but strong stories 
of perforated open work, present a singularly light appearance, 


249 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

and are really stronger than if they were solid, although this was 

doubted by the sapient deciders of merit in modern church archi¬ 
tecture. 

The interior of the church accords in style and beauty with the 
exterior, and is spacious and commodious; being one hundred 
and thirty feet in length, sixty-one in breadth, sixty feet in height 
from the paving in the nave to the highest point in the vaulted 
ceiling, and the aisles are thirty-two feet in height, measured in a 
similar manner. 

The eastern end, or front, which lias a very beautiful window 
over the altar, is disfigured by an excrescence of a vestry room, 
that I am inclined to think is a subsequent addition of some 
Committee (so called) of taste; at all events it spoils the unity of 
the design. 

As we are on the subject of the new churches, we will with 
the seven-leagued hoots of imagination, step from that of St. 
Luke’s, Chelsea, to 

The Chapel of Ease to Mary-le-bone, 

in Stafford Street, New Road; a composition of the Ionic order of 
architecture, consisting of a tetrastyle portico in front, which 
faces or represents the nave, and an Italian window on each side 
of this Athenian colonnade to hear witness to the aisles. On the 
flanks are repetitions of the columns (see plate of the Chapel of 
Ease to Mary-le-bone , Stafford Street , Neiv Road). The parapet 
is balustraded; and above and behind the pediment, which is no 
representation of the end of a roof as it ought to he, rises a jdain 
square tower. This pediment is in the situation of Carlton House 
columns, and might be asked, as they were by the satirical rogue 
mentioned in our review of that immortal work :— 

Dearest Miss-Pediment, what do you there ? for it seems only 
placed to he an impediment to a direct view of the clock. 

Above this square tower, whose monotory is only broken by the 
clock, is a square portico of four columns on each face, somewhat 
resembling one of the tiers of that strange building called the 
Septizonium of Severus, and the steeple is finished by a campa¬ 
nile and cupola which support a ball and cross. It is substantial 
but inelegant and inappropriate. 


250 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

Using our before-mentioned privilege, we will now take a glance 
at the 

Chapel of Ease, West Hackney, 

which, without the bell tower, and aisles would be a respectable 
version, or rather abridgement, of the portico of Covent Garden 

Theatre, and almost as characteristic. 

As a portico it is a good copy from that of a Grecian temple, 
but its effect is destroyed by the wings and conventicle-headed 
windows, and the incubus of a bell tower that is riding upon its 
back. 

St. John’s, Hoxton, 

is in a more original style of architecture, and is one of our best 
modern steeples, being less afflicted with the beauty of ugliness 
than some of its rivals. The facade is pleasing, and the tower 
comes down to the ground, and forms a proper base and foundation 
to the spire. 

The front is composed of three parts (see plate of the Church 
of St. John, Hoxton), a centre, which defines the width of the 
nave, and two wings, which belong to the aisles and galleries. 
The centre has a portico of three-quarter fluted columns of the 
Ionic order, between two ante which are repeated, slightly re¬ 
ceding, at the angles of the aisles. A correct entablature and lofty 
blocking course crowns the order and connects the entire building, 
which is divided into two stories of windows, the lower of which 
light the lower part of the aisles, and the upper, which are lofty 
and covered with semicircular-headed arches, the galleries. 

Above the entablature is a square panelled tower with a Grecian 
shaped window, filled in with louvres. Piers with projecting 
panels are placed over the columns, and a circular aperture, appa¬ 
rently constructed for a clock, is perforated above the central 
window. 

The tower then sets off to a circle in plan with projecting piers 
on four of its faces, and a lofty cylindrical tower is erected on this 
base. It is divided into eight pails, by slightly projecting Gre¬ 
cian antse, which have windows with semicircular heads between 
them. The frieze is ornamented with laurel wreaths, and the 





SCmTMWAIRIK JBJOB'GE, FIEOM Mil §1T)E, 

















































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


251 

blocking course is diversified by sculptured st£le over the head of 
each antae, which produce a pleasing effect. The whole is sur¬ 
mounted by a very pretty temple, consisting of four pair of cou¬ 
pled columns of the Ionic order, a semi-elliptical cupola, and a 
cross. This church is altogether one of the most pleasing and 
original of the new churches of the Grecian style of architecture. 

Another excellent specimen of the difficult task of applying 
Grecian architecture to Christian churches, which have an archi¬ 
tecture exclusively their own, is exhibited in 

St. Peter’s Church, Eaton Square, Pimlico. 

This classical edifice is composed of an hexastyle portico of 
the Ionic order, which extends the whole width of the church. 
The columns are fluted and detached the entire width of an inter- 
columniation from the cell or body of the building. They sup¬ 
port a lofty entablature, selected from the beautiful little temple 
formerly on the banks of the Ilyssus at Athens, which is crowned 
by a pediment of just proportions. See plate of St. Peter's 
Church , Eaton Square , Pimlico. 

Between the columns, in the main west wall of the church, are 
three doorways of grand and classical proportions, panelled with . 
square lacunariae and equidistant styles, bounded by bold archi¬ 
traves, and crowned by handsome cornices supported by canta- 
livers. These being the whole openings in the wall, are produc¬ 
tive of an imposing effect by the chaste simplicity, and breadth 
thereby produced. 

Above the pediment, and in the perpendicular line of the back 
wall of the portico, is a raised building the whole width of the 
church, terminated at each end by pediments, much resembling 
the excrescences on the Mansion House in the city, and similar 
erections on the church of St. George, Hanover Square, but 
uglier than either, inasmuch as the substructure is more beautiful. 
Upon this species of stylobate is raised another parallelogrammatic 
pedestal, occupying the width of the four central columns, and 
decorated with panelled piers at each extremity; and upon the 
upper surface of this, as upon a platform, the square bell tower 
is abruptly placed. This portion of the steeple is a handsome 
moulded cube, with a dial in each face, upon which is erected a 
classical tower and circular finial. The tower itself is of the 


•252 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


Ionic order, of two columns in antis, the angles ol which are 
crowned on the blocking course with acroteria in the form of sar¬ 
cophagi, between which a cylindrical structure arises, with a 
cornice, a cupola, and a finial in the form of a cross. The whole 
spire or steeple much resembles an antique sarcophagus, and 
looks as if it had been removed from the street of the tombs in 
Herculaneum. 

The body of the church is chaste and simple, with lofty semi¬ 
circular-headed windows, and a cornice corresponding with the 
front. Its materials are stone and stone-coloured bricks, and 
therefore more in harmony than some of its pie-balled contempora¬ 
ries. Its architect is Henry Hakewill, Esq. who has brought his 
travelling reminiscences of ancient art into practice with great 
effect. 

Another no less classical, but more elaborate effort of modem 
art, is the 

New Church of St. Pancras, 

an ecclesiastical edifice of a very commanding character, and de¬ 
signed by Messrs. W. and H. W. Inwood, after the purest Athe¬ 
nian examples. The portico to the west front is hexastyle, of a 
very elaborate and highly enriched specimen of the Ionic order, 
copied from the celebrated temple of Minerva Polias at Athens. 
See plate of St. Pancras Church , west front. On the columns 
is raised a lofty entablature after the same example, which is co¬ 
vered with a tympanum of graceful proportions, and its cymatium 
sculptured with the beautiful foliage of the Grecian honey¬ 
suckle. The tower is octagonal in plan, with eight isolated 
columns on a stylobate and an entablature of the order used in 
the octagonal temple of Andronicus Cyrestes at Athens, more 
commonly called the temple of the winds. On the western sum¬ 
mit of the entablature of this part of the campanile is the dial of 
the clock, supported by sculptured foliage. On the cell of this 
story is raised another octangular stylobate, which also supports 
a similar octangular temple of smaller dimensions; the summit of 
which is crowned by an octagonal attic, with sculptural figures 
on each face. 

The church is entered beneath the western portico, by three 
noble doors of colossal dimensions, and with diminishing archi- 


253 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

traves o 1 very antique proportions. The interior is one hundred 
and seventeen feet in length, and sixty feet in width, with a flat 
ceiling divided into numerous compartments by sunken panels 
which enclose highly relieved foliage. 

The posticum, or eastern end, is in imitation of the half of a 
circular temple of the Ionic order, with attached or three-quarter 
columns. 

The side elevations are decorated with continuations of the 
entablature, and of the heads or capitals of the antae, which are 
productive of a disagreeable effect, as confusing the simple lines 
of the architrave with this unbroken line of the foliage beneath. 

On each side are two sub-porticoes, supported by four cane- 
phorse, designed after those of the Erectheium at Athens, and 
behind them are entire sarcophagi to indicate that they lead to 
the silent mansions of the dead. The vaults or catacombs beneath 
the church, and to which these side porticoes lead, are constructed 
to hold two thousand coffins. The body of tlie church is built 
with brick, and faced with Portland stone and ornaments of terra 
cotta. The canephorae, and sculptural ornaments, were executed 
by Charles Rossi, Esq. R.A. This church was finished in 182*2, 
and consecrated on the 7th of May of that year. 

Another church by the same architects, the Messrs. Inwoods, 
but in a very different style of architecture to that of St. Pan 
eras, is 


The New Church, Somers Town, 

which is a distiict church in the parish of St. Pancras, and is in 
the pointed or English style of Gothic architecture, built of brick 
with stone dressings. See plate of the New Church Somers 
Toivn. 

The western front is simple and unpretending, and is divided 
into five principal portions, the central of which forms the tower 
and entrance to the nave. The next two portions are plain, and 
the two extreme divisions are perforated by doorways which open 
into the aisles. These are separated by plain buttresses and sur¬ 
mounted with pinnacles. 

The tower is divided into three stories, the lowermost of which 
contains the principal entrance ; the next, which is mezzanine, 
holds the clock, its apparatus and dial, in a square sunk and 


254 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


moulded panel; and the upper story is appropriated to the belfry. 
The parapet is perforated and panelled, and at each angle is a 
buttress finished with an octagonal pinnacle and foliated finial. 

The design is homely and economical, and does not exhibit the 
talents of the clever architects who designed it to so much ad¬ 
vantage as their Grecian buildings, particularly that of the new 
church of St. Pancras. 

In a similar style, but in more picturesque taste, is 

The New Church, Haggerstone, 

* 

a design of the style termed Gothic, and by Mr. Nash. 

This church is very original in design, and exhibits the versa¬ 
tility of its architect’s mind. Like the last, the west front is di¬ 
vided into five principal parts, which have more variety and 
picturesque beauty than that somewhat too formal a structure. 
See plate of the New Church , Haggerstone. 

The central portion of the design is the lofty tower, which rises, 
like all those of Wren, from the ground. Each angle of the 
tower is protected by an octagonal buttress, between two of which 
is the entrance door leading to the nave, which is covered by a 
flat pointed arch of the Tudor style. Above this door are two 
plain stories separated by moulded bands or string courses, and a 
small pointed window to each. Above these is the clock dial, in 
a moulded sunk quadrangular panel, which is repeated on every 
face. 

The parapet is terminated by a battlement on every face, and 
at each angle, the buttresses run up to a lofty elevation, and are 
terminated by crocheted pinnacles and finials. Betw een these pin¬ 
nacles, and behind the battlements, is a lofty quadrangular lantern, 
supported by flying buttresses from those at the angles of the 
tower, and finished with buttresses, embrasures, pinnacles, finials 
&c. as the larger tower beneath it. 

The two portions of the composition next in order are the side 
entrances which adjoin the tower. The doors lead to the aisles, 
and are covered by pointed arches and square water tables. 
Above each door is a narrow^ loop-hole window, surmounted by a 
gable, with a pinnacle on its apex. At each side of these en¬ 
trances is a spacious flanking octangular tower, two stories in 
height, which contains the gallery stairs. This church, which is 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 255 

dedicated to St. Mary, contains accommodation for seventeen 
hundred persons, and cost the sum of twelve thousand five hun¬ 
dred pounds in building. 

Another church in a similar, but in a more florid style of archi¬ 
tecture, is 

The Church of St. Mark the Evangelist, 

Pentonville, 

a design by William Chadwell Milne, Esq. the engineer to the 
New River Company, and son of the late Robert Milne, Esq. the 
architect of Blackfriars Bridge. 

This small but pleasing composition consists of three parts, in 
the western or front principal elevation ; namely, a tower of mode¬ 
rate height, which contains the entrance to the church generally, 
and two lancet headed windows, which light the aisles. See 
plate of the Church of St. Mark the Evangelist , Pentonville. 

The door is deeply recessed, within a series of pointed arches, 
supported by circular pillars, between two square projecting 
panelled buttresses. The upper surface of the outer arch is de¬ 
corated with crocketting, which terminate in a flnial beneath the 
great western window, and the spandrells are filled up with 
panelling. The tower consists of four stories ; namely, the before- 
mentioned entrance, the story above that for the bell ringers, 
another which contains the clock and its apparatus, designated by 
a small dial in a panelled frame, and the belfry which has three 
pointed windows. The parapet is ornamented externally by tri¬ 
angular panels, and the angles of the towers are strengthened by 
square projecting buttresses, carried up above the parapet and 
finished with crocketted pinnacles and finials. 

The flanks have angular buttresses, finished in a similar manner 
at each corner, and dwarf buttresses, which finish below the pa¬ 
rapet, between each window. The front and church yard are 
separated from the public road by plain iron railings on a stone 
plinth. 

Before leaving the subject of the new churches, permit me to 
call your attention to two more, by the Messrs. W. and H. W. 
Inwood, in a similar Grecian style of architecture with the before- 
mentioned new church of St. Pancras. One is, 


25(5 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


The New Church, Camden Town, 

the western front of which is light, airy, and Grecian in an emi¬ 
nent degree. See plate of the New Church , Camden Town. The 
portico, which forms the centre of the composition, is semicircular 
in plan, the entablature of which, projecting over the centre door 
like the half of a large umbrella, is supported by four columns of 
the Ionic order, and connected to the building by proper antae 
of the same order. The correctness of this order is spoiled in 
this instance, as in that of St. Pancras, by an architrave of three 
faciae, contrary to strict ancient rule and ordonnance. The Doric 
order and its class should be distinguished by an architrave or 
epistylium of one face, the Ionic and its class of two, and the 
Corinthian and its manifold variations of three faces. Thus no 
order would trench upon another in any of their features. 

The cornice is surmounted by a series of sepulchral stele, 
wliich, being introduced instead of the bold blocking course or 
plain scamilli, detract from the simplicity of the design. 

The side buildings or aisles have doors in correspondence with 
those of the nave, and the windows in the flanks are raised on a 
species of stylobate, which contribute by their plain simplicity to 
the general good effect of the whole. 

The tower or steeple, in accordance with the circular portico, 
is circular- in plan; which form pervades every story, as the oc¬ 
tangular does that of St. Pancras. A square plinth, rising just 
above the roof, serves as a platform or basis to a cylindrical tower, 
panelled and crowned with a cornice, wliicli forms a stylobate to a 
circular temple of the Ionic order. Above this is a cylindrical 
altar-like building, raised on steps, and covered with a cupola, 
upon which is raised a cross, supported by elegant foliage. On 
the four sides of this altar-like finial of the steeple is a projecting 
panel which contains the dial of the clock 

This church cost the sum of twenty thousand pounds in build¬ 
ing, and will accommodate sixteen hundred persons sitting. 

The other church alluded to, by the same architect, is 

The New Church, Regent Square, Sidmouth Street, 
a composition similar, but inferior to that of St. Pancras, which 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 257 

must be considered at present as those gentlemen’s master 
piece. 

The western front consists of a hexastyle portico of the Ionic 
order, which has also the incorrect architrave of three facise. See 
plate of the New Church , Regent Square , Sidmouth Street. 

The doors are in a similar style of majestic boldness with those 
of St. Pancras, and the steeple is a variation of the other, con¬ 
verting the octagons into circles. The windows in the flanks 
harmonize well with the front, and the whole edifice is a chaste 
and pleasing composition. 

St. Mary’s Church, Wyndham Place, and District 
Rectory to St. Mary-le-bone, 

is, like the before-mentioned new church at Camden Town, com¬ 
posed of a semicircular portico, and a circular tower. See plate 
of St. Mary's Church , Wyndham Place , and District Rectory 
to St. Mary-le-hone. It is a substantial structure of brick and 
stone of the Ionic order, and from the designs of Mr. Smirke. 
The novelty of the perforated parapet, as a substitute for the or¬ 
thodox balustrade, is no improvement, and the steeple is deficient 
in lightness for want of that pyramidal gradation which distin¬ 
guishes the steeples of Wren above those of every other architect. 
About the clock part, in particular, it looks (as old Walker the 
lecturer on the Eidouranion used to describe his moon) rather 
gibbous, and the capitals of the upper columns are too plain for 
their situation. 

The interior is in the same plain unornamented style as the ex¬ 
terior, except that over the altar is a large window of stained 
glass, representing the resurrection of Clirist. This church was 
finished and consecrated for divine service in January 1824. 

The New Church, Waterloo Road, 

dedicated to St. John the evangelist, was built from the designs 
of Mr. Bedford in 1824. It has some faults and many beauties; 
the columns of the portico are of the lightest style of the Doric 
order, and, though rather effeminate in proportion for that mascu¬ 
line order, are beautifully proportioned and systematically ar¬ 
ranged. 


258 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


The portico is hexastyle, and is joined to the body of the 
church, with antique propriety, that is, as a continuation of the 
lateral cornice and roof. But all this propriety of annexation, 
and real beauty of proportion, is absolutely destroyed by the 
atrocity of a steeple, the ugliest perhaps in London (except per¬ 
haps the last mentioned), which is straddled a cock-horse across 
the pediment. Authority and precedent have no weight here; 
the architects and commissioners of the new churches should have 
abolished such an error that even Wren never attempted, and 
Gibbs could hardly grace, in his beautiful absurdity of St. Mar¬ 
tin’s in the Fields, which, thanks to Messrs. Arbuthnot and Nash, 
we are now getting a proper view of. 

Wren’s steeples always stand upon a tower, that rises imme¬ 
diately from the ground; and those of the best Italian architects 
are also similarly detached, but are never seen mounted upon the 
saddle of the roof; whilst the real foundation is carried down be¬ 
tween the walls, and covered by the slating, like the legs of a 
hobby horse rider in the May day gambols of Queen Elizabeth’s 
time, which are his real supporters; and he thus only seems to sit, 
like a modem steeple on a modem roof, kicking his artificial leg 
to give it the appearance of reality, as the modem architect makes 
his ponderous steeple appear to be basking itself upon the roof. 

The columns of the portico are really beautiful, although they 
are rather too delicate and too far asunder for the manly character 
of the Doric order; and the whole edifice is substantially built 
and scientifically constructed: it has more strength than beauty, 
and exhibits more science than taste. 

Tie entablature is weak and fragile, when the order to which 
it is adapted is taken into consideration; the epistylium alone 
partaking in any way of the Dorian character. The frieze is de¬ 
nuded of its characteristic triglyphs and metopes, and trivial 
wreaths of laurel inefficiently substituted. The mutules and 
guttae of the corona are also omitted, the corona itself defrauded 
of its fair proportions, and neither in height or projection is it 
Doric. And yet perhaps some committee of taste, such as Wren 
complained of when the committee for rebuilding St. Paul’s issued 
their fiat for him to spoil his own design, may have occasioned 
much of the emasculations of which I am complaining. 

The steeple is a series of quadrangular buildings, placed one 
upon the other and diminishing seriatim as they arise. At the 



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259 


METROPOI/ITAN IMPROVEML- NTS. 

angles are affixed quadrants of spheres and Grecian honeysuckles 
sculptured in their sectional faces. The entrance doors are well 
situated, and the windows are of good proportions; the interior is 
plain, hut well arranged, and accords with the purposes for which 
it is erected; and, although a poverty of means is apparent, yet the 
architect lias certainly made the most of the money allowed him - 
for so extensive a building. 

Let us now take a view of the church of 


St. Barnabas, King Squ are, 

between the Goswell Street Road and the Regent’s Basin in the 
City Road, an edifice built more for use and duration than parti¬ 
cular ornament. The portico is tctrastvle of the Ionic order, 
without a pediment, having a blocking course and balustrade in 
its stead. On either side of the portico is a circular-headed win¬ 
dow' of true tabernacle cut, and sunk panels above them, like attic 
window's bricked up to avoid the window duty. See plate of the 
Church of St. Barnabas , King Square. Above the balustrade 
that crowns the portico is a square tow er w ith belfry window s, 
and a dial in the upper part of the one that faces the west; and 
upon this is raised an octagonal obeliscal spire of good proportions, 
winch how'ever does not harmonize with the Ionic building be¬ 
neath it. 


St. Mary-le-bone Chapel, St. John’s Wood Road, 

is a substantial unpretending chapel of the Ionic order, designed 
by the late Thomas Hardwick, Esq. It is divided into two 
stories, with square window's to give light to the pews under the 
galleries, and with lofty semicircular headed windows to light the 
galleries and body of the edifice. See plate of St. Mary-le-bone 
Chapel , St. John's Wood Road. The portico is tetrastyle, and has 
a dial or clock-face in the tympanum of the pediment. Above this 
is' a cubical tower, w ith steps, which forms a pedestal to a hand¬ 
some lantern of the Roman Doric order. Apertures between the 
columns give light to the belfry, which is covered by a hemisphe¬ 
rical cupola, ball and vane. It is a very useful and appropriate 
building, but of a fashion that is now gone by. 


M ETROPOUTAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


‘i(iO 


St. Pai i/s Church, Ball’s Pond, 

a church very recently built from the designs of Mr. Barry, whose 
new church at Brighton has given such general satisfaction. It 
is one of the most rural looking of all our suburban churches, and 
wants but a little discolorisation and better planting around it, to 
pass for a veritable country church. See plate of St. Paul's 
Church , Pairs Pond. It is composed of a lofty nave lighted 
from above the roofs of the aisles, a square substantial brick tower 
with angular buttresses surmounted by crocheted pinnacles, and 
two aisles lighted by lancet-headed windows, which are sepa¬ 
rated by dwarf buttresses. The design is pure in taste, and 
drawn from the best sources of our ancient English architecture. 

Not so 


The Unitarian Chapel, Finsbury, 

which is unorthodox in every respect, and dissents from the true 
faith of legitimate architecture. Its principal front consists of 
four three-quarter Ionic columns, guarded by two pair of ant*, 
and a remarkably ill-proportioned entablature and pediment, which 
is surmounted by something like a miniature stack of chimneys. 
It. is also disfigured by the introduction of dwelling house sash 
windows. 

But we will turn to a more pleasing object, 

The New Church, Stepney, 

a design of the late John Walters, Esq. and erected by private 
subscription in 1819. It is one of the best designs in the later 
pointed style of English architecture that has been recently 
erected. The western front (see plate of the New Church , Step¬ 
ney) is composed of a lofty centre, forming the nave, and tw'o 
wdngs which form the aisles. 

The centre part has a low' entrance door, with a flat pointed 
arch in a square moulded frame, below a wide and lofty transom 
window, covered by a gable. At the angles are octangular but¬ 
tresses surmounted by pinnacles. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


261 


The aisles have also low doors with obtuse pointed arches, 
angular buttresses surmounted by pinnacles, which are repeated 
between every window in the north and south sides. The pa¬ 
rapets in the west front are perforated, and in the others plain, 
and the spaces above the doors which lead to the aisles are hand¬ 
some canopied niches, with pedestals for figures. The whole 
composition has a very striking English and ecclesiastical cha 
racter. 


Albion Chapel, Moorfields, 

is a neat and unaffected building, with a peculiarly pretty little 
diastyle portico in antis of the Ionic order, designed by a young 
architect of the name of Jay. The roof gives it somewhat the 
air of a theatre (see plate of Albion Chapel , Moorfields ), but it 
possesses a character of original thinking in its design that is 
highly pleasing. It was formerly occupied by the Rev. Alexander 
Fletcher, a clergyman of the Scots Secession Church, who 
has removed to the more spacious and handsome chapel in the 
neighbourhood, before noticed under the name of Finsbury 
Chapel. 

Another design of Mr. Barry’s must be mentioned before we 
leave this somewhat long list of recently erected churches and 
chapels; which is, 

The Church of the Holy Trinity, Cloudesley 

Square, Islington, 

a Gothic edifice of similar good taste to that recently men¬ 
tioned at Ball’s Pond, and by the same architect, Mr. Barry. It 
deserves the same praise, for characteristic design and solidity of 
construction, as that very rural looking church. See plate of the 
New Church , Cloudesley Square. 

Among the most efficient of our Metropolitan Improvements, is 

* 

The Temple Church as restored, 


which a few years since was obstructed by wig shops, book stalls 
and other incumbrances. This ancient and very beautiful church 


2(>’2 


METROPOLITAN 1MPROVEM ENTS. 


was founded by the Kniglits Templars in 1185, when the western 
or circular part was built, and dedicated to the \ irgin Mary. It 
was re-dedicated in 1240, when the other part is generally sup¬ 
posed to have been erected by the Knights Hospitallers. 

The western or circular part is peculiarly interesting, from its 
age, and from being one of the earliest specimens of the pointed 
style of architecture in this country. It has a circular external 
wall, with twelve openings, which serve as doors and windows, 
with dwarf buttresses between them. See plate of the Temple 
Church as restored. 

The interior is formed by a series of six clustered pillars, with 
Norman capitals and bases, which support the same number of 
pointed arches, over which is a triforium and clerestery with semi¬ 
circular intersected arches, that form by their intersections the 
probable origin of the lancet-shaped or pointed arch. 

The monuments of this church are all interesting and valuable 
for their antiquity and the celebrity of the personages whose fame 
they celebrate. The most remarkable of them are the recumbent 
statues of knights templars on the pavement of the circular 
church, in two groups of five each, lying north and south of the 
passage way to the choir. One group have their legs crossed, 
and the other straight. Three of these knights are in complete 
mail or suits of chain armour, with plain helmets flat on the top, 
and with very long shields. One of these valiant heroes is Geof¬ 
frey de Magnaville, Earl of Essex in 1148, and one of the ridge 
shaped stone coffins is supposed by Camden to be the tomb of 
William Plantagenet, the fifth son of king Henry III. 

The choir, or present church, which is now used in common by 
the Societies of the Inner and Middle Temple, consists of a nave 
and two aisles of nearly equal height, but differing in width, the 
nave being the widest of the tliree divisions. It has four pair of 
clustered pillars, which support, with the addition of the eastern 
and western walls, six pointed arches, which are supported laterally 
on the north and south sides by strong dwarf stone buttresses. 
Between the buttresses are a series of lancet-shaped pyramidal 
windows, with isolated columns, which add great lightness to the 
building. 

The walls of this well built church are of stone, strengthened bv 
massive dwarf stone buttresses, and a triple roof, one over each 
aisle, and another over the nave, covered with lead of great thick- 


METROPOLI TAN IMPRO V EMENTS. 


263 


ness. The whole edifice was repaired in 1682, in 1811, and 
again in 1827 and 1828, under the directions of Mr. Smirke, who 
has restored it in a substantial and masterly style. It is now out¬ 
side, as well as inside, one of the greatest ornaments and archi¬ 
tectural curiosities in the metropolis. 

Having now discussed the principal of our recently built or 
restored sacred edifices, we will return to others erected for more 
profane uses, and will proceed to a view of 

York House, St. James’s Park, 

a new palace, begun originally for the late Duke of York, and 
now in a course of progress for the Marquess of Stafford, from 
the designs and under the superintendence of Benjamin and 
Philip Wyatt, Esqs. It is a large cubical building, of a mixed 
character of beauty and defect. Of the former are the four Co¬ 
rinthian porticoes which embellish every front (see plate of York 
House , St- James's Park), and of the latter are the Palladian 
windows in the south front, the misapplied capitals to the pilasters 
instead of more beautiful and more correct antae, the arcades 
under the columns, the petty balusters on the cornice, and the 
variety of trivial breaks about the entire building. The lower 
windows, without architraves, are apt illustrations of Canova’s 
comparison, that English windows were mere holes in a wall, or 
the Rev. Mr. Dallaway’s, that they are like the human counte¬ 
nance divested of eyebrows. 

The general effect however is good, and the entire building is 
grand and palatial. When the plantations are completed, and more 
grown, and the lower story thereby hid, it will then become a sort 
of basement, and the whole effect, as may be tried by hiding 
that portion of the building, be much improved. 

Another very fine London palace is, 

Lord Grosyenor’s Gallery, Park Lane, 

which forms the western wing of a large and splendid town man¬ 
sion, now in the course of building from the designs of Mr. 
Cundy. It consists of a colonnade of the Corinthian order, raised 
upon a plain jointed stylobate. 


264 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


Over each column of the principal building is an isolated statue 
with an attic behind them, after the manner of the ancient build¬ 
ing called by Palladio the Forum of Trajan at Rome. On the 
acroteria of the building are vases and a balustrade (see plate ol 
Lord Grosvenor's Gallery , Park Lane ), and between all the 
columns are a series of blank windows with balustraded balconies 
and triangular pediments, introduced in a manner that disfigures 
the other grand parts of the design. Over these are sunk panels 
with swags of fruit and flowers. But for these stopped up win¬ 
dows, and the overpowering and needless balustrade over the 
heads of the statues, this building would rank among the very first 
in the metropolis; but with these trifling drawbacks, that can 
easily be remedied before the whole is completed, it is as grand as 
it is architectural, and altogether worthy of its noble proprietor. 

For chaste simplicity, and harmony of proportion, we have no 
single work of architecture in London that surpasses my old 
friend and occasional friendly adviser the late George Dance’s fine 
portico of 

The Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln’s 

Inn Fields, 

which, like a pension to a faithless patriot, is a good thing ill-ap¬ 
plied, so little does it belong either in conjunction or relation to 
the awkward elevation behind it. 

The portico consists of six lofty columns of the Ionic order, 
selected from the temple on the banks of the Ilyssus at Athens. 
See plate of the Royal College of Surgeons , Lincoln's Inn 
Fields. The entablature is in due accordance, and in the frieze 
is the following incription :— 

Collegium • regale • chirurgorum- 

On the upper surface of the cornice is raised a solid stylobate, 
projecting after the manner of pedestals, over each column. On 
these pedestals is placed a row of antique bronze tripods, which 
are attributes of the Apollo Medicus, and over the centre inter- 
columniation a second blocking is raised, which supports a shield 
on which is sculptured the armorial bearings of the college, sup- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


265 


ported by two very classical figures of iEsculapius with his club 
and mystic serpent. 

The dwelling behind is so common-place that it can be com¬ 
pared, in relation to its fine portico, to nothing better than some 
of the additions by the modern Romans to the fine antique por¬ 
ticoes of their illustrious ancestors. 

We will now proceed in our desultory tour, and take a view of 


The New Custom House, from Billingsgate. 


The first building ever erected for the purpose of transacting 
the business of the customs was in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
and near to the site of the present extensive edifice. In the great 
fire of 1666 it was destroyed, with all the surrounding neighbour¬ 
hood and the greater part of the city, and was rebuilt on a more 
extensive scale than before this calamity in the reign of Charles 
the Second, by Sir Christopher Wren. That building also met 
the same fate in 1718, and was rebuilt upon much the same plan. 
It was again consumed by fire in February, 1814, and was rebuilt 
upon a still larger and more extensive scale from the designs and 
under the superintendence of David Laing, Esq. the architect to 
the board of Customs. 

In consequence of defects in its construction, which threatened 
a downfall to a considerable portion of the building, the long room 
was shored up, the front next the river taken down, and the pre¬ 
sent river front, which differs much from the preceding elevation, 
was erected in its stead by Mr. Smirke. 

The south or river front is four hundred and eighty-eight feet in 
length, and the east and west fronts, or depth of the building, are 
each one hundred and seven feet. These tlwee fronts are faced 
with Portland stone, and the north front, which is next Thames 
Street, is faced with brick and has ornamental stone dressings. 
The first stone of the new building was laid on the 25th of Oc¬ 
tober, 1813, with the usual ceremonies, at the south-west corner, 
by the late Right Honorable the Earl of Liverpool, then first Lord 
of the Treasury, and the Right Honorable Lord Bexley, then 
Chancellor of the Exchequer, attended by the Commissioners of 
His Majesty’s Customs, and in the presence of a great concourse 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


266 

of spectators. The new building was opened for public business 
on the 12th of May, 1817. 

The south front (see plate of the New Custom House from 
Billingsgate) is divided into three leading parts, corresponding 
with the divisions of the interior. They are each elevated on a 
lofty rusticated basement, and are again subdivided in themselves 
into three parts, forming a triune series of triads. This was an 
objection against Mr. Laing’s front, that was taken down as well 
as against this, in which perhaps it was not possible to be obvi¬ 
ated; for it looks now, as well as formerly, more like a range of 
three buildings than one entire design;—and in this respect the 
Thames Street front is less objectionable. 

The central portion of the building, which embraces what is 
called the long room, is divided into three parts, a hexastyle pro¬ 
jecting portico of the Ionic order in the centre, and two wings, 
each distinguished by a pair of ant®. Over the portico is raised 
a balustrade, in the centre of which is a large clock. Over the 
cornice of the side portions of this compartment of the building 
is a lofty attic, with windows, which light an upper row of offices. 

The two side main buildings have also a similar character and 
similar divisions, being each embellished with a hexastyle attached 
portico of the Ionic order, but the wings are without ant®. Over 
the centre entablature is an attic with windows, and over the 
wings a balustrade. 

The side fronts, or flanks of the building, correspond in cha¬ 
racter with those of the water front, having the same line of cor¬ 
nices, string courses and mouldings carried through, which con¬ 
nect them with the north front, and leads us to a view of 


The Custom House, from Thames 


Street, 


which has a more massive, bold, and connected character, more 
the semblance of an entire building than the other. The centre 
is marked by eight lofty pilasters or ant® of the Ionic order, the 
cornices, string courses, copings, and entablatures are all carried 
through and give a great appearance of unity and harmony to the 
whole fa 9 ade. The central entrance is bold and simple, and the 
entire composition, which is connected and business-like, reflects 
great credit on Mr. Laing’s character as an architect. See plate 

















































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 267 

of the Custom House , from Thames Street. With regard to the 
circumstances attending the fall of the long room, there have 
been too many versions and too much uncertainty for introducing 
them in this place, but it is yet to be cleared up, when justice no 
doubt will be done to all parties. 

Since our former view of New London Bridge, or London New 
Bridge, as the veteran common councilman Sam. Dixon will 
have it called, the Lord Mayor (Lucas), who was originally a 
lighterman on the river, and is much to his credit Alderman of 
Tower ward, chose to embark at the Tower and carry his triumph 
through that bridge, where he had previously so often conveyed hi* 
craft. Therefore a brief account and sketch of 

New London Bridge, with the Lord Mayor’s Pro¬ 
cession PASSING UNDER THE UNFINISHED ARCHES, 
November 9, 1827, 

will not be inappropriate to the subject. The upper surfaces of 
the arches were decorated with flags of the principal nations of 
both hemispheres, and crowded with spectators, who cheered and 
loudly greeted the splendid and novel procession as it passed 
under and between the timbers of the centres which supported 
the huge masonry of the arches. See plate of New London 
Bridge , with the Lord Mayor's Procession passing under the 
unfinished arches , November 9, 1827. The workmen cheered, 
and the watermen and other persons connected with the river ser¬ 
vice, added their voices and their hearts to the united shouts as 
they saw their old commodore * holding on, in all the pride of 
civic glory, as the stately barge glided nobly through the narrow 
aperture of the centre arch. This ceremony was repeated on the 
following Lord Mayor’s Day, by the present Lord Mayor, Aider- 
man Thompson, with equal splendour, and less difficulty, as more 
of the centres were removed from beneath the arches. 

Being on the subject of bridges leads us to that very beautiful 
work of art, 


•* Alderman Lucas, during the war, was commodore to the river fencibles, a very 
useful and efficient part of the volunteers of London. 


268 


METROPOLITAN IMP ROY EM ENTS. 


The Suspension Bridge, oyer the 

Hammersmith. 


Thames, at 


Bridges of this nature, although held by some persons to be a 
modern invention, or derived from the rope bridges of South 
America and the East Indies, were in use in Europe in the time 
of Scamozzi, as may be seen in that architect’s work called u Del 
Idea Archi ,” published in 1615 ; but the knowledge requisite to 
determine the properties of this kind of bridge, had not been 
published before the time of Bernouilli. Mr. Ware, in his excel¬ 
lent Tract on Vaults and Bridges , says, that the pendant or 
suspension bridges, mentioned by Scamozzi, were probably con¬ 
structed on false principles, and consequently of short duration; and 
on that account the invention fell into disrepute and desuetude. 

Among the extraordinary bridges of this nature, is one of ropes 
over a chasm in a mountain at Andaguailas, in the South Seas, 
which, according to an account published in Frezier’s Voyage to 
those regions in 1712, measures no less than seven hundred and 
twenty feet between the points of suspension. 

A communication across the Thames by a bridge at Hammer¬ 
smith had long been necessary to the neighbourhood, when a pro¬ 
posal for the erection of this bridge was made by Mr. J. Tierney 
Clarke, the Engineer to the Hammersmith Water Works Com¬ 
pany, and a sum necessary for its execution was raised under the 
powers of an act of parliament. 

Before the erection of this beautiful and convenient bridge, 
the extensive population of its vicinity were obliged to submit to 
the inconvenience of a circuitous route of at least five miles, to 
arrive at places from which the river alone separated them. By 
its execution the distance from London to Richmond by Hyde 
Park Corner is considerably shortened, and an easier communica¬ 
tion is made to Kingston by way of Richmond; and it is only 
three miles and a half from Hyde Park Corner. 

The bridge itself is composed of two square towers, with pi¬ 
lasters and cornices of the Doric order, just below low water mark, 
and with apertures in them for the road-way. In these towers 
the chains that carry the road-way are supported (see plate of 
the Suspension Bridge , over the Thames , at Hammersmith J 
in the same manner and on the same principle as that of the chain 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


‘269 


pier at Brighton, having been executed by Captain Brown of the 
Hoyal Navy, who designed and constructed that useful work, 
from the designs and under the superintendence of Mr. Tierney 
Clarke, the Engineer to the Company. It forms a novel, pic¬ 
turesque, and highly agreeable feature among our recent Metro¬ 
politan Improvements. 

A most important and highly useful improvement, now in pro¬ 
gress, is 

The New Post Office, St. Martin’s Le Grand, 

a handsome and remarkably well built structure by Mr. Smirke, 
that w r as began in 1818, and for want of sufficient funds was for 
some time at a stand. It is now advancing towards completion, 
and is expected to he opened for public business on the 12tli of 
August next (1829). It is divided into three portions; namely, a 
central liexastyle portico of the Ionic order, after the example of the 
temple of Minerva Polias at Athens. The columns are fluted, the 
entablature of good proportions, but with the too often used im¬ 
propriety of an architrave of three faces. The frieze is plain, but 
the cornice has the extremely appropriate ornament of dentels in 
its bed mould. This central portico (see plate of the New Post 
Office , St. Martin's le Grand) is finished with a pediment of 
just elevation, the tympanum of which contains the imperial 
arms of the united kingdoms. This arrangement gives a pyra¬ 
midal appearance to the group which forms the composition. The 
side porticoes, which are tetrastyle of the same order, are finished 
with a low attic raised on the blocking course, instead of a pedi¬ 
ment, which aids the composition and forms a pleasing contrast to 
the central or principal subject of the group. 

The portions of the building between the centre and the wings 
have two stories of lofty windows, which are well arranged for 
harmony and complete the composition, which is chaste, simple 
and imposing. There is scarcely a public building in the metro¬ 
polis that can compete with this substantial and useful edifice, for 
those grand essentials of our art, utility, strength and beauty. 

The basement story is constructed of granite, and the super¬ 
structure of hard bricks, faced with Portland stone; and the prin¬ 
cipal front, that which we have now been reviewing, is three 
hundred and eighty feet in length. 


270 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


Another recent and very pretty city building is 

Salter’s Hall, 

in Swithin’s Lane, Cannon Street, a handsome and very elaborate 
elevation, by George Smith, Esq. the architect of St. Paul’s 
School, and many other excellent civic structures. It consists of 
a tetrastyle portico of the Ionic order, which supports an attic that 
forms a base or pedestal for the armorial hearings and supporters 
of the company it belongs to. See plate of Salter's Hall. The 
side portions of the elevation have semicircular headed windows, 
over which are tablets beautifully sculptured with the Grecian 
honey-suclde. The building is prettily situated in a planted 
garden, with dwelling houses and offices on each side. 

Before leaving the subject of municipal structures, let us take a 
look at one of the most singular, bizarre and original architectural 
compositions in this or any other country, 

The Guildhall of the City of London, 

the front of which is designed by the late George Dance, Esq. 
the city architect. The interior is ancient as high as the cornice, 
and the upper part, which was rebuilt after the fire of London, is 
about as ugly an upper story and roof as ever disguised a beau¬ 
tiful hall, and the corporation will be for ever deserving of cen¬ 
sure, till they restore the ancient groined roof, the pillars of which 
are absolutely groaning for their airy partners in lieu of the moun¬ 
tains of masonry that now defile them. This fine—and, in spite 
of its roof, it is still a fine—hall is one hundred and fifty-three feet 
in length, forty-eight in breadth, and nearly sixty in height, and 
will contain, it is said, nearly seven thousand persons. 

The windows of the principal front are all pointed, which has 
given occasion to some writers, to call the style of its architecture 
Gothic. It is divided into three parts by four piers, pilasters or 
buttresses, I know not which to call them, which are surmounted 
by octagonal pinnacles. The square parts of these pinnacles are 
ornamented with sculptural representations of the city sword and 
mace, and the central part with the shield, arms and supporters 
of the corporation. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


271 


We will now proceed to 

The New Corn Exchange, Mark Lane, 

a new building recently erected by a joint stock company, as a 
market for the use of the corn factors, &c. of the metropolis. It 
is from the designs of George Smith, Esq. and is one of the most 
agreeable compositions in the city. See plate of the New Corn 
Exchange , Mark Lane. 

It is composed of a centre, formed of a receding hexastyle por¬ 
tico of the genuine Doric order, but robbed of its triglyphs, a la 
mode de Mr. Nash, which are provided with hired substitutes of 
laurel wreaths. The echinus is embellished with a lion’s head 
over each column, which among the Greeks were used for the 
outpouring of the rain water from the roof, but which would 
be a libation, upon the heads of His Majesty’s lieges frequenting 
the Corn Exchange, that Mr. Edward Tyrrell, the district sur¬ 
veyor, would not allow. 

The cornice is crowned by a magnificent blocking course of 
extraordinary height and boldness, which supports a stylobate 
bearing the imperial arms of the united kingdoms, with agricul¬ 
tural trophies, and the following inscription :— 

i 

Corn Exchange, 

Erected by Act of Parliament, 

Anno Domini M.DCCC.XXVII. 

From this eastern part of the metropolis, we must now, to com¬ 
plete our desultory chapter of the Metropolitan Improvements , 
by an effort of the imagination, transfer ourselves to the west, and 
survey the as yet unaccomplished glories of 

The New Treasury, Whitehall, 

a building of legitimate art, by Professor Soane, and which com¬ 
prises, besides the Treasury, the Privy Council Office, the Board 
of Trade and other government offices. Several designs were 
made by Mr. Soane for the Board of Trade and New Council 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


07 O 

Office. The original directions of the Lords Commissioners of 
His Majesty’s Treasury, says Mr. Soane in his recent publication, 
were to prepare designs of a building for the suitable accommo¬ 
dation of the Privy Council and Board of Trade, confining the 
extent of the front to the space between Downing Street and the 
Treasury Passage. 

For this purpose Mr. Soane prepared a design, which being too 
plain, he composed another in a more enriched character, with an 
order of architecture the same in all its parts and dimensions as 
in the little temple at Tivoli. The effect of this beautiful com¬ 
position, which has been for ages the admiration of the lovers of 
classical architecture, may be seen in our before-mentioned views 
of the exterior of the Bank of England, executed in every re¬ 
spect, by Mr. Soane, according to the original. 

In this design of Mr. Soane’s, which I have seen, the columns 
were sufficiently detached from the walls, like those in the Stoa at 
Athens, to produce that fine effect of light and shade so well un¬ 
derstood by the Greeks and Romans, and which, as Mr. Soane 
well observes and practices, constitutes one of the great beauties 
of architecture. 

This design having been approved by the first Lord of the 
Treasury and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the works were 
begun; but, during their progress, the entire insulated columns 
were pared down by high authority into three-quarter columns, 
and the light order of the temple at Tivoli was replaced by the 
more elaborately ornamented Corinthian order of the three columns 
in the Campo Vaccino at Rome, supposed to be the remains of 
the temple of Jupiter Stator. In these designs the architect was 
confined for the extent of his front to the above-mentioned space 
between Downing Street and the Treasury Passage. He was 
afterwards directed* to continue the front of the Privy Council 
Office and Board of Trade to the extremity of the official resi¬ 
dence of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in 
Downing Street. This extension of the front in an unbroken 
line produced, as the professor well observes, a monotonous effect. 

* See Designs for Public and Private Buildings, by John Soane, Professor of Ar¬ 
chitecture in the Royal Academy, one of the Architects attached to His Majesty’s 
Oflice of Works, Architect to the Bank of England, F.R.S. R.A. F.S.A. Member of 
the Academies of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Parma and Florence. 
London, 1820, p. 6. 


MET UOPOLITA N IMPROVEMENTS. 


273 


He therefore made another design, with a pavilion of six columns 
at each extremity of the building. One of these pavilions is at 
the Downing Street end of the building (see plate of the New 
Treasury , Whitehall ), and the other is to be where the old but¬ 
tressed and sash-windowed bedaubed brick building at the other 
end now is. 

According to this plan the northern pavilion would project 
several feet upon the foot-way. This difficulty occasioned, as Mr. 
Soane says, by the line of front having been turned considerably 
further westward than originally intended, may be overcome by 
making Downing Street the centre of the front, according to a 
magnificent design * which he submitted to the Lords of the 
Treasury, and by continuing the line of the building southward 
to the same extent, so as to afford space for the State Paper 
Office, an official residence for the Secretary of State for the 
Home Department, and for the public records now deposited in 
sheds within Westminster Hall, and in other insecure places. 
This line Mr. Soane proposes also to be continued to Great 
George Street, wherein might be erected residences for the diplo¬ 
matic officers of state, the great law officers and others connected 
with the public affairs of the country. This arrangement, when 
executed, will give great variety and picturesque effect to the 
faqade, enriched with a view of Henry the Seventh’s Chapel and 
Westminster Abbey; and it would likewise have the advantage 
of permitting the official residence of the Secretary of State for 
the Home Department to be added to the Treasury Chambers, to 
which it is contiguous, and where very considerable accommoda¬ 
tions are wanted for the despatch of the important duties of that 
department, and for the convenience of the public. 

“ These buildings,” says Mr. Soane, “ continued through 
Downing Place into St. James’s Park, forming one general plan, 
might be completed a plusieurs reprises; and it may be added, 
that the accommodation of the public, and the safety of the state 
papers and invaluable records require the adoption of this or some 
other such project.” 

Concerning this building, about which so much has been said, 
both in and out of parliament, Mr. Soane says in his before quoted 
work, by way of apology or defence against those who have im- 


* Plate IX. In the before quoted work. 


274 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


pugncd his taste, that, “ in every architectural composition, the 
style of the exterior determines the character of the interior de¬ 
corations : and, whenever the application of this axiom is neg¬ 
lected, the want of sound judgment and good taste in the archi¬ 
tect will always be manifested. Upon this principle, and with 
due regard to the character and destination of this building, the 
Privy Council Chamber assumes an appearance of magnificence; 
whilst the other rooms, as offices, are finished in the most simple 
and substantial manner, suitable to the character of public offices. 
The new Board Boom of the Board of Trade owes the manner 
in which it has been finished to the same cause as determined the 
decorations of the Privy Council Chamber, and to the old Board 
Boom being the identical chamber in which the unfortunate Duke 
of Monmouth was born. To preserve the recollection of this 
room, the new board room is decorated, by Mr. Soane, in the same 
character; and such of the ornaments as could be taken down, 
and preserved, now form the enrichments of the new board room 
of the Board of Trade. From these offices there is a direct com¬ 
munication with the Board of Treasury, the treasury chambers, 
and with the official residence of the first Lord of the Treasury. 

Among the recent improvements at the west end of the metro¬ 
polis is the new front of 

The Italian Opera House, Haymarket, from Pall 

Mall East, 

a joint design of Mr. Nash and his tasteful pupil Mr. Bepton. 
It is as fine a specimen of the Palladian style of architecture as 
any in London, and the difficulty of the inclined plane on which 
it is erected is overcome with the skill of a master. The design, 
is eminently theatrical, and therefore characteristic. Its arcades 
and colonnades are necessary appendages to such a building. 
The sculptures in the panels over the colonnade, representing the 
origin and progress of music and dancing, are executed in terra 
cotta by Mr. Bubb. See plate of the Italian Opera House , 
Haymarket , from Pall Mall East. 

In our former tour we omitted, because they were then incom¬ 
plete, a fine view of 



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METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


275 


Waterloo Place and part oe Regent Street, 

from a situation now obtained by the removal of Carlton Palace, 
which gives to the buildings in Waterloo Place, and those on the 
rising ground to where the view is terminated by the County Fire 
Office, a very fine effect. See plate of Waterloo Place and part 
of Regent Street. 

I must also call your attention to another view, which was 
omitted for a similar reason, that of 

Regent Street, from the Quadrant, 

see plate, which begins at the round cornered pavilion-like house 
opposite the northern end of the Quadrant, and finishes with the 
cubical turretts of Mr. Cockerelfs new chapel near Oxford Street. 
It is a view replete with picturesque architectural beauty. 

Since our pleasant tour round the Regent’s Park several new 
villas have been erected, and the scenery has so much improved, 
by the rapid growth of the trees and shrubs, as to have occasioned 
many new features in the views of this charming spot. Let me 
therefore call your attention to 

An Island on the Lake and part of Cornwall and 
Clarence Terrace, Regent’s Park, 

which at this sparkling season of the year, when nature is ap¬ 
parelled in her gayest livery, and the silvery surface of the lake 
is spangled over with ever-moving gems from the inspiring rays 
of the sun darting through the plantations, affords a gratifying 
Heat in a region so immersed, as it were, in the midst of the me¬ 
tropolis, as is the Regent’s Park. See plate of an Island on the 
Lake and part of Cornwall and Clarence Terrace , Regent's 
Park. That pair of majestic swans, that isolated foreigner the 
black swan, and the swarms of cygnets and ducklings that are dis¬ 
porting on the surface of the water, add a liveliness to the scene 
inconceivably gratifying. 

Turn your eye the other way, and at a small distance from the 
above enchanting spot see that majestic building, absurdly called 
the Colosseum, rearing its ample cupola over the trees. This 

2 o 


•276 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


alone, without any of the numerous other great undertakings 
of Mr. Nash, will stamp him for a man of genius and an artist, 
though no one can really consider him as a great architect. See 
plate of the Colosseum and 'part of the Lake, Regent's Park. 

Among the villas and other recent additions just mentioned 
are— 


South Villa, Regent’s Park, 

the residence of William Henry Cooper, Esq. It is raised on a 
basement story, sufficient to elevate its architectural parts above 
the plantations. These consist of a tetrastyle portico (see plate 
of this villa) of the Ionic order, a semicircular bow, and a due 
distribution of windows. It is a very pretty villa-looking house. 
Next is, 


Chester Terrace, Regent’s Park, 

a splendid row of mansions arranged like others before mentioned 
into a very palatial-looking structure. The triumphal arches at 
either end (see plates), to which I before alluded, are grand, novel 
and effective. 

Another 


Villa in the Regent’s Park, 

is that pretty composition of four three-quarter Ionic fluted 
columns, between two antse, and covered with an entablature and 
pediment. The lower windows, formed of anta? supporting their 
architraves, are tasteful and effective, and do not detract from the 
style of the architecture. The plantation before it is also very 
serviceable to the architecture which it decorates (see plates of 
Villa in the Regent's Park , and St. Andrew's Place , Regent's 
ParkJ, which is a pretty and very picturesque group occasioned 
by the good management of accidental effects in which Mr. Nash 
is so deservedly celebrated. 

As the thread of our tour has been broken by the numerous ad¬ 
ditions that are daily malting to our Metropolitan Improvements, 
which come with a rapidity too fast for my pen to describe them, 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 277 

I must now take you to a very different quarter of the town, and 
call your attention to 

The Haberdashers’ Alms Houses, Hoxton; 

but more properly Ashe's Hospital. 

The original building, which has been recently pulled down to 
make room for the present neat structure, was a truly palladian 
design of that great philosopher and co-student of Sir Christopher 
Wren, the inventive Robert Hooke. It was erected in 1692 by 
the worshipful Company of Haberdashers, pursuant to the will of 
Robert Aske, Esq. a member of that company, who left an almost 
unexampled legacy of thirty thousand pounds for erecting a 
proper edifice for the accommodation of twenty decayed members 
of his company. The men, who must all be single, have each 
apartments, consisting of tliree rooms, with proper diet and firing, 
a gown once in two years, and three pounds per annum. 

The former building was very spacious, being four hundred feet 
in length, with an ambulatory in front three hundred and forty 
feet long under a colonnade of the Tuscan order. The present 
building is much smaller in dimensions, and consists of a central 
Doric tetrastyle portico, with its fneze emasculated of its manly 
triglyphs, and a substitution of hybrid wreaths. The wings are 
decorated with brick piers instead of classical stone antoe. The 
apartments of the men are on each side of a spacious quadrangle 
(see plate of the Haberdashers' Alms Houses , Hoxton ), in the 
centre of which is a statue of its benevolent founder on a lofty 
pedestal, which bears inscriptions of his bounty. Mr. D. R. 
Roper is the architect of this useful edifice, which however, on 
comparison with its spacious and magnificent palladian predecessor, 
makes us exclaim, with the great Earl of Burlington on another 
less appropriate occasion, 

“ When the Jews saw the second temple they wept.” 


Of nearly a similar nature are 

Whittington’s Alms Houses, Highgate, 

a building of English domestic architecture, by Mr. George Smith 
the architect of St. Paul’s School, the New Corn Exchange and 


278 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


other works, noticed in these pages. It is a handsome and colle¬ 
giate looking huilding (see plate of Whittington's Alms Houses, 
High gate ), as indeed it should he; for it is in lieu of that benevo¬ 
lent and munificent citizen’s ancient college on College Hill, near 
Queen Street, Cheapside, which was by license from King Henry 
IV., in the year 1410 , made a college of the Holy Spirit and Saint 
Mary, by Sir Richard Whittington, four times Lord Mayor of 
London, for a master, four fellows, clerks, choristers &c. Con¬ 
tiguous to which was erected an alms house, denominated God’s 
House, or hospital, for the accommodation of thirteen persons, one 
of whom is the chief, with the appellation of tutor. It is still 
under the wise management of the worshipful Company of 
Mercers. 

Every city apprentice must remember the legend of the poor 
truant Hick Whittington, sitting disconsolate on a stone at the rise 
of Highgate Hill, and fancying the city hells ring— 

“ Turn again Whittington, 

Thrice Lord Mayor of London,” 

and may have his early associations roused, at seeing Whittington’s 
College, for so I must call it, a magnificent structure in the imme¬ 
diate neighbourhood of Whittington's stone. 

It has a central chapel, of the pointed style of architecture, the 
gable of which is surmounted by a lofty pinnacle. It has also 
two square and two angular buttresses, with pinnacles and finials 
in accordance. The two wings have also gables, buttresses, pin¬ 
nacles and finials in a corresponding style of architecture. The 
doors and windows are square-headed, and covered with moulded 
water tables, and the whole composition is at once useful and 
ornamental. 

Another similar establishment to which I shall call your atten¬ 
tion before we leave this subject is, the 

Brewer’s Alms Houses, Mile End, 

a smaller, hut very picturesque structure, in a very neat and effec¬ 
tive style of domestic architecture. The front elevation is com¬ 
posed of a receding centre, between which and the wings are two 
slightly projecting transepts, if they may he so called, which are 
embellished at the corners with angular buttresses surmounted by 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 279 

pinnacles. The chimney shafts are capped in the old English 
style, with separate funnels connected at the top. The whole 
building is agreeably relieved by appropriate and at the same 
time useful breaks, which produce a gratifying diversity of light 
and shade over the entire elevation. 

Before leaving the subject of the recently erected and otherwise 
impio^ ed charitable institutions of our metropolis, we will inves¬ 
tigate the 

Asylum for Famale Orphans, Westminster, 

a charitable institution, originally established by Sir John 
Fielding, in 1758, for the laudable purpose of preserving poor 
friendless and deserted girls under twelve years of age from the 
miseries and dangers of prostitution ; whilst its neighbour, the 
Magdalen, endeavours to reform those who have fallen into such 
ways. After the first patrons had arranged measures for its es¬ 
tablishment, and agreed upon the several rules and orders for the 
reception and management of the children, they took the lease of 
a large house and offices formerly the Hercules Inn, in the West¬ 
minster Bridge Hoad, which they altered and furnished for their 
purpose, and admitted the first children into their establishment 
on the 5th of July 1758, three months only after the first pro¬ 
posal. 

Most of our readers may remember the old buildings of this ex¬ 
cellent institution, which were pulled down about three years since 
to make room for the present improved buildings. They had, as I 
well remember, much the appearance and air of livery stables, 
having been the hostelerie of the ancient Hercules Inn. 

A new front row of buildings (see plate of the Asylum for 
Female Orphans , Westminster ), forming two projecting wings 
and a centre, which leads to the chapel where many a youthful 
and zealous preacher has obtained celebrity and the dubious 
name of a popular preacher, now decorates its principal front. 

The centre of this very pretty architectural composition is a 
portico, or rather porch, of the Ionic order, of very beautiful pro¬ 
portions, selected from a choice example of the purest Grecian 
elegance, and adapted to its situation with a very praise-worthy, 
if not quite successful aim at originality; for the coupled antae out¬ 
side the columns produce rather the effect of panelled piers than 


METROPO LIT AN 1MTRO V EMENTS. 


280 

what the architect (Mr. W. L. Lloyd) intended them for. I he 
portico consists of two columns in antis, and they look rather to 
he imprisoned than protected by their double file of sentinels. 
Consequently the effect produced is a heaviness more in ac¬ 
cordance with the character of the Doric order of the Hypaethral 
temple at Paestum, than that of the lightest and most ornamental 
of the Ionics—that of the temple of Minerva Polias at Priene, 
which the architect has selected. 

The same objection appears to me to pervade the whole design, 
and gives reason to suspect that it was originally intended to be 
of the Doric order. The building is too low for the stately ele¬ 
gance of the Ionic order, the windows are too squat, the semi¬ 
circular arches of the principal story savour too much of the 
Bricklayer for their Athenian accompaniments, and the cornice 
and blocking courses, which are continued Horn the portico through 
the main building to the wings, too ponderous. 

The portico, however, with the before-mentioned exception of 
the coupled antse, is well proportioned; the columns beautifully 
compiled and well placed; the doors and windows behind them 
graceful, characteristic and useful. The campanile, above it, 
which is riding a straddle on the apex of the pediment, the cor¬ 
nice of which appears reduced to the mechanical properties of 
struts to support it, is too much in the conventicle style to he 
either in good taste or to produce pleasing associations. The 
whole is, in spite of these defects of detail, one of the prettiest 
pieces of architectural composition of the present day, and is very 
creditable to the taste and talents of its architect. 

Another splendid improvement to the architectural beauty, if 
not to the morality of the western portion of the metropolis, is 

Crockford’s Club House, St. James’s Street, 

a building of great extent and expensive execution. It is from 
the designs of Messrs. Benjamin and Philip Wyatt, and does 
great credit to their well known name. It consists of a lofty 
ground story, lighted by five spacious Venetian windows, and a 
magnificent upper or principal story, with an equal number of 
French casement windows decorated with proper entablatures. 
The two outermost of these upper windows, being without the 
pale and protection of the central projecting part, have the addi- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 281 

tional embellishment of pediments* This is both correct and in 
accoi dance with utility, as pediments under pediments or pro¬ 
jecting porticoes, are absurd and ill placed. See plate of Crock- 
ford s Club House , St. James’s Street. 

The entrance is byway of the lower central window, up a flight 
of stone steps to the elevated ground floor, under which is a lofty, 
airy and extensive basement story, containing the kitchen and 
other offices and domestic apartments. This story is lighted bv 
a wide area, which is separated from the street by an elegant 
stone balustrade. This feature of the building, like that of Mr. 
Soane’s New Treasury, Whitehall, is more architectural, more 
beautiful and more in keeping with the rest of the structure than 
the lanky iron rails of many of its neighbours. On the pedestals 
of this balustrade are raised a series of bronzed tripods, that sup¬ 
port as many elegant octagonal lanterns. 

The front is composed of a centre, formed by a slightly pro¬ 
jecting tetrastyle portico of Corinthian pilasters or ant®, which 
support an entablature, and tw o slightly receding wings, in which 
the epistylium is properly omitted, being supplied by the wall 
itself. On the upper part of the cornice is a raised blocking 
course, with a lofty balustrade, and piers over each pilaster, as 
well as beneath them. 

In the order of which this elevation is composed, the brother 
architects have followed the heresy of Mr. Nash, by giving an 
Ionic entablature, strictly so in every respect, to Corinthian pi¬ 
lasters ; or, vice versa , have given Corinthian pilasters to an Ionic 
entablature, instead of the rigid orthodoxy of their father, whose 
beautiful facade (Brookes’ Club House) just below r this, stands in 
awful rivalry of their defection from the true faith. Yet it is a 
pleasing, and from its magnitude a grand composition, and the in¬ 
terior, wdiich is finished in all the rich and gaudy style of Louis 
XIV. is a fine specimen of that overloaded but magnificent style 
of domestic architecture. 

In pursuing a tour of this part of the metropolis, every body 
must have passed through the well known 

Burlington Arcade, Piccadilly, 

a design of Samuel Ware, Esq. the author of a very scientific 
volume of tracts on vaults and bridges, and architect to many 


28*2 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

excellent buildings in Ireland, tlie splendid alterations at Cliats- 
worth, at Northumberland House, and other places for the Dukes 

of Devonshire and Northumberland. 

We must now, to pursue our desultory tour, transport you fiom 
this western end of the town, to the most eastern, and survey a 
building to which this work has somewhat contributed to laise 
again into celebrity. This is 

The Temple of the Muses, Finsbury Square, 

a building so named by its eccentric, founder, the late James 
Lackington, who realized a competency, by the sale of second¬ 
hand books, on the sure principle of small profits and quick re¬ 
turns; and was succeeded in business by his nephew, of the 
firm of Lackington, Allen & Co. On their removal westward, 
this large concern was for a long time empty, till it was taken 
by Messrs. Jones & Co. the proprietors of this work, and opened 
by them for the publication and sale of their works only. It 
may be thought unseemly here to descant on the merits of these 
particular editions, nor can it be necessary, since the immence 
circulation, not only at home, but through the Continent of Eu¬ 
rope, America and India, is a sufficient test of superiority and 
of the successful issue of a bold and original plan. Suffice it to 
say, that the object was to combine a vast saving of expence, 
portability and facility of reference, with correctness, typogra¬ 
phical beauty, and good taste. This has been effectually ap¬ 
plied to the most popular and valuable works in English litera¬ 
ture, comprising an Historical Series—The British 
Classics, or Essayists —a Dramatic and a Poetical 
Series, besides many other works of miscellaneous character. 
Last, though not least in success and popularity, has been the 
present work, forming part of a general series, under the title of 
“Jones’ Great Britain Illustrated;” and the host of 
imitators at once displays the public opinion as to its merits, 
as well as the great interest excited. In addition to the former- 
mentioned series of British authors, and intended as a companion, 
they have announced a Series of the most approved Transla¬ 
tions from the Greek and Roman Classics, which is in a 
forward state of preparation—to commence with Murphy’s 
Tacitus, complete in one elegant octavo volume. 



Published May 5.1827, by Jones k C° 3. Acton Place. Kinbsland Road . London. 















































































































































































METKOFOLITA N IMPROVEMENTS. 


283 

From literature, we must now turn to the sporting world, which 
has contributed to the architectural improvement of the metropolis 
by the erection of 

the London Horse and Carriage Kepo.su ^x, 

Gray’s Inn Road. 

This Repository is a parallelogram, the two sides of wincn are 
alike, and its two ends, which are more architectural in feature, 
totally dissimilar. The side buildings consist of a range of piers 
and apertures, covered by a series of semicircular arches, which 
give light to the stables. Above this story is another with a 
spacious projecting balcony, running from end to end. The 
centre is raised above the sides, and is decorated with a tetrastyle 
attached portico of Ionic pilasters or antse, and surmounted by a 
pediment. The sides have a series of semicircular-headed re¬ 
cesses, which contain windows, and are surmounted by a cornice 
and balustrade. 

The principal end building (see plate of the north-west view of 
the London Horse and Carriage Repository) is composed of a 
principal story, opening into a return of the side balconies, and 
consists of five Ionic pilasters, with windows between them, and 
an attic raised upon the entablature. Above this is an acroterian, 
covered by a pediment, and enclosing a dial. The other front 
(see south-east view) is tetrastyle, of the Ionic order, with fluted 
pilasters, and surmounted by a well-proportioned pediment. The 
whole building is "well arranged for its purposes, but the archi¬ 
tectural parts want connection and simplicity. The best part is 
the south-east front, last mentioned. 


CHAP. VI. 


“Architecture, the queen of the fine arts, attended by her handmaids. Painting and 
Sculpture , presents herself, by prescriptive right, to the consideration and regard of the 
Sovereign :— Monarchs can best appreciate the utility and importance of this noble art an 
art which, in imperial and great works combined, displays the mighty and fascinating powers 
of Painting and Sculpture—of Music and Poetry.” 

Soane. 


THE DESULTORY SURVEY CONTINUED-VAUXHALL BRIDGE-THE PENITENTIARY, 

MILL BANK, WESTMINSTER-THE NEW PATENT SHOT MANUFACTORY, NEAR 

WATERLOO BRIDGE-NEW BETIILEM HOSPITAL, ST. GEORGE’S FIELDS-THE 

NEW NATIONAL SCOTCH CHURCH—THE LONDON OPHTHALMIC INFIRMARY, &C., 

FINSBURY-THE KING’S ENTRANCE TO THE HOUSE OF LORDS-BELGRAVE 

CHAPEL AND BELGRAVE SQUARE-ROYAL YORK BATHS AND PARK VILLAGE, 

REGENT’S PARK—SUFFOLK STREET, PALL MALL EAST—GUILDHALL, WEST¬ 
MINSTER-THE UNIVERSITY CLUB HOUSE—THE CALEDONIAN ASYLUM-THE 

NEW CHURCH, NEAR HIGIIGATE HILL—AND OTHER RECENT METROPOLITAN 
IMPROVEMENTS. 

I shall now call the attention of my readers to that very useful 
improvement, 


Vauxiiall Bridge. 

A bridge over the Thames near this spot was in contemplation 
previous to the erection of Westminster Bridge; and the question 
whether Westminster or Vauxiiall, says a writer in the Repertory 
of Arts for March 1818, was one on which public opinion was at 
that time much divided. Since that period no person appears to 
have revived the idea, till the public attention was called to it by 
that indefatigable projector, Mr. Ralph Dodd, who opened a sub¬ 
scription to carry the measure into effect. 



METROPOLIT A N 1M PRO V EM ENTS. 


285 


The first act of parliament was passed in 1809, and the works 
were commenced by Mr. Dodd, who discontinued his services 
shortly afterwards, in consequence of disputes with the directors; 
and Mr. John Rennie, the elder, was appointed engineer in his 
stead. Mr. Rennie began the execution of a stone bridge of 
seven arches, the first stone of which was laid by Lord Dundas, 
in the name of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, on the 
9th day of May, 1811. 

Shortly after the completion of the foundation of the abutment 
on the Middlesex side, the directors, finding that the expense of 
a stone bridge would exceed their capital, suspended their 
operations, and made a second application to parliament in 1812, 
when they obtained an act empowering the use of iron or other 
materials in the construction of the bridge : Mr. Rennie being the 
company’s engineer. 

Sir Samuel Bentham then submitted to the company a design 
for a bridge for this spot, consisting of nine arches, upon a prin¬ 
ciple for which he had obtained a patent, the specifications of 
which are published in the Repertory of Arts, vol. xx. p. 129, and 
vol. xxi. p. L This design was approved by the directors, and a 
contract was entered into between them and Mr. J. Grellier, the 
builder, to be executed under Sir Samuel’s directions. 

The novelty of this plan, as it appears from the patentee’s spe¬ 
cification, consisted in the piers being sunk in caissons with brick 
and stone sides, and in the use of Kentish rag stone of small 
sizes for the fronts of the piers, backed in with rubble-work, laid 
in Roman cement. The foundations of some of the piers were 
laid in this manner; and a considerable part of the shore abut¬ 
ment that had been constructed by Mr. Rennie was taken down, 
and masonry of the above description substituted for* it. A just 
fear for the success of this novel mode of construction induced the 
conservators of the river Thames to order a survey to be made by 
Mr. James Walker the engineer, and Mr. Stephen Leach the en¬ 
gineer to the Thames Navigation committee. In consequence of 
wliich the building committee applied to Mr. Walker for a design 
which he made upon a system that appeared to have more cer¬ 
tainty of success. 

It is upon this plan (see plate of Vauxhall Bridge , from Mill 
Bank), and under the superintendance of Mr. Walker as prin¬ 
cipal, and Mr. English as resident, that the present efficient 


236 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


bridge has been executed, it having been thought advisable to 
take up and remove the whole of the work which had been pre¬ 
viously executed. 

The first stone of the present bridge was laid by the late Duke 
of Brunswick on the 21st of August, 1813, and on the 4th of 
June, 1816, being three years from the time of Mr. Walker’s en¬ 
gagement with the company, the ceremonial of opening the bridge 
was performed by the carriage of William Williams, Esq., the 
treasurer of the company, passing over the bridge, since which 
time it has continued open to the public. 

The width of the river Thames at Yauxliall is about nine hundred 
feet, the depth at low water from eight to ten feet, and the rise of 
the tide about twelve feet. The bridge, as may be seen in the 
plate, consists of nine arches of seventy-eight feet span, and 
eight piers, each thirteen feet wide. The length of the bridge, 
clear of the abutments, is eight hundred and six feet; the rise of 
the centre arch above high water mark twenty-seven feet; the 
clear width of the bridge is thirty-six feet, divided into a carriage¬ 
way of twenty-five feet, and two footways of five feet six inches 
each. The rise of the roadway upon the bridge is one foot in 
thirty-five to the middle of the fourth arch from each side; the 
line of the roadway over the centre arch, and half an arch on each 
side of it, being curved to meet the inclined planes formed by 
the roadway over the other arches as shown in the view. 

The piers of the bridge under low water mark arc faced with 
large blocks of Portland and Yorkshire stone, and above low 
water with Dundee stone, with occasional chain courses of the 
same material carried quite through the pier, and strongly cramped 
and joggled with cast iron. The abutments are built of the same 
kind of materials and in the same manner as the piers. 

Each arch consists of ten ribs, and each rib of three segments 
of circles, connected together by strong crosses of iron, having a 
large broad plate at each end. These are bolted together through 
the segments of the ribs, and are accurately fitted to their sur¬ 
faces; thus confining the segments of each rib in their places, and 
forming the whole arch into one connected body. The abutment 
piece of each arch is let into the stonework of the pier, and is 
further strengthened by a casting across the pier opposite to the 
bearing of each rib, so that from one side of the river to the other 
is a continuous line of cast iron. The arches are further stif- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. ' 287 

fened by a number of long screw bolts, which pass through all 
the ribs, and thin hollow tubes let in between the ribs and 
screwed upon the face of the outside ribs. 

The roadway is supported upon cast iron plates, wdiicli rest 
upon the top shoulder of the ribs, and upon those plates is laid 
a thickness of eighteen inches of gravel to form the road. 
The pedestals and panels, between the iron railing which form 
the parapet of the bridge, both over the piers and over the arches, 
are also of cast iron. 

The whole of the iron work is covered with a coating of dis¬ 
tilled coal tar, excepting the outer face of the external ribs, the 
panels, pedestals, and railing, which are painted with a chemical 
stone-coloured anticorrosive paint. 

This very useful bridge is connected with the metropolis by an 
excellent road to Eaton Street, Pimlico, just at the back of the 
new palace now building on the site of Buckingham House. 
This road forms a direct line with Hyde Park Corner, through 
Grosvenor Place on the Middlesex side, and to the Vauxhall 
Road near the turnpike on the Surry side. Besides these roads, is 
another running on the Middlesex side of the river from Millbank 
Street, Westminster, and the bridge has shortened the former dis¬ 
tance between Westminster Abbey and Vauxhall Bridge, nearly 
a mile. 

The Penitentiary, Millbank, Westminster. 

The plan of this building is principally on the Panopticon , or 
allseeing principle of Jeremy Bentham, and was constructed for 
the purpose of trying the effect of a system ot imprisonment, 
founded on the humane and rational principles of classification, 
employment, and reform. The prisoners, who are offenders ol 
secondary turpitude, and who are confined here instead of being 
transported or sent to the hulks, are therefore separated into 
classes, are compelled to work, and their religious and moral 
habits, as well as those of industry and cleanliness, are properly 
attended to. 

The external walls of this vast building, which resembles a 
fortification, or rather a continental fortified chateau, form an irre¬ 
gular octagon, enclosing no less than eighteen acres of ground. 
This large space comprehends several distinct though conjoined 


288 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


masses of building, the centre one being a regular hexagon, and 
the others branching out from its respective sides. By this means 
the governor, or overseer, can at all times have the power of over¬ 
looking every division of the prison, from windows in the central 
part. See plate of the Penitentiary , at Millbank, Westminster . 

This institution, under an act of the 56 George III. c. 63, 
A.D. 1816, entitled “ an act to regulate the Penitentiary House 
at Milbank,” is to accommodate four hundred male and four 
hundred female convicts It is governed by a committee nomi¬ 
nated by the privy council, which forms a body corporate, and 
has the appointment of all the officers, and the exclusive manage¬ 
ment of the prison. The prisoners are allowed a per centage on 
their labours, and the amount is given them when discharged. 
The expense of building this vast edifice amounted to nearly five 
hundred thousand pounds. 

We will now take a boat, as the tide is gently running down, 
and, as we land at Waterloo Bridge, take another look at 

The New Shot Manufactory near Waterloo Bridge, 

which we have before described in page 155 of this work. It 
looks magnificent at this period of the tide, and deserves all the 
commendation that has been bestowed on it, either for its con¬ 
struction or for its beauty. 

In pursuit of our desultory expedition, I will now take you to . 
see one of the most beautiful, most substantial, and most useful of 
our numerous charitable institutions, namely, the 

New Betiilem Hospital, St. George’s Fields. 

This building, which is for the cure of lunatics, presents a front 
of extraordinary grandeur and beauty, being scarcely inferior in 
harmony of proportion to George Dance’s exquisitely proportioned 
hospital of St. Luke in Old Street Road, with more of architec¬ 
tural decoration. It is five hundred and eighty feet in length, and 
is composed of three principal and two subordinate parts, namely, 
a noble central building, embellished with an liexastyle portico of 
the Ionic order, which embraces only a part of its length, two side 
pavillions or wings, and two receding intermediate parts which 


289 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

lorm the body of the building. See plate of the New Bethlem 
Hospital , St. George's Fields . 

The central building, besides its before-mentioned Ionic portico, 
has a continuation of its main building to an extent of three win¬ 
dows on each side of its outer columns. It is surmounted by a 
well-proportioned pediment, above which is erected a handsome 
attic, which serves as a base to a cubicalar building surmounted 
by a hemispherical cupola. 

In the hall which is entered under this beautiful Grecian por¬ 
tico, are the inimitable statues of raving and melancholy madness 
by Cibber, who sculptured the scaffold poles, hods of mortar, and 
colossal wigs on the pedestal of the monument near London 
Bridge. These exquisite statues, which are quite classics in their 
way, formerly decorated the piers of the principal gateway to the 
former hospital in Moorfields. 

The wings and body of the building are in happy accordance 
with the central composition, and comport well with the general 
picture. In these the patients are accommodated, and in the area 
behind, which comprises nearly twelve acres, are separate build¬ 
ings for offices, &c., and enclosed grounds for the exercise of the 
patients. The interior arrangements are designed with great 
judgment by the late Mr. Lewis, who was architect to the build¬ 
ing and to Christ’s Hospital in Newgate Street, and the contri¬ 
vances for warming and ventilating the different wards are ex¬ 
tremely judicious. 

This establishment contains accommodation for two hundred 
patients, exclusive of about sixty others, who are confined for acts 
of criminality, the charges of whom are defrayed by government. 
The building cost about a hundred thousand pounds, and the 
annual income of the institution is about eighteen thousand pounds. 

My next step, and I hope my Scottish cousins will not think 
me satirical, is to 

The New National Scotch Church, Sidmouth 
Street, Gray’s Inn Road, 

, * a 

where that spirit of the age, the Rev. Mr. Irving, astonishes and 
delights his countrymen. But for him this splendid embellishment 
of our metropolis had never been built; therefore to him this praise 
is due. “ Our Caledonian divine,” says Mr. Hazlet, “ is equally 


290 


METROPOLITAN IMPROYEMENI’S. 


an anomaly jn religion, in literature, in personal appearance, ana m 
public speaking. To hear a person spout Shakspeare on the 
stage is nothing—the charm is nearly worn out—but to hear any 
one spout Shakspeare (and that not in a sneaking under-tone, but 
at the top of his voice, and with the full breadth of his chest), 
from a Calvinistic pulpit, is new and wonderful. The Fancy 
have lately lost something of their gloss in public estimation, and, 
after the last fight, few would go to see a Spring or a Neat set 
to;—but to see a man who is able to enter the ring with either of 
them, or brandish a quarter-staff with Friar Tuck, or a broad-sword 
with Shaw the Life-guards’ man, stand up in a strait-laced old- 
fashioned pulpit, and bandy dialectics with modern philosophers, 
or give a cross-buttock to a cabinet minister—there is something 
in a sight like this that is worth seeing. It is as if Cribb or 
Molyneux had turned Methodist parson, or as if a Patagonian 
savage were to come forward as the patron-saint of evangelical 
religion.” Again, he says, “ Mr, Irving must have something 
superior in him, to look over the shining close packed heads of 
his congregation to have a hit at the great Jurisconsult (Jeremy 
Bentham) in his study. He next, ere the report of the former blow 
had subsided, made a lunge at Mr. Brougham and glanced an eye 
at Mr. Canning, mystified Mr. Coleridge^ and stultified Lord 
Liverpool in his place—in the gallery. It was rare sport to see 
him: ‘like an eagle in a dove-cote flutter the Volscians in 
Corioli.’ ” 

These splendid powers in Mr. Irving have produced the re¬ 
moval of the principal congregation of the national church of 
Scotland in London, from a miserable meeting-house in a back 
street in Hatton Garden, to the present cathedral-looking edifice, 
which does honour to the good taste and liberality of our northern 
brethren. See plate of the National Scotch Church , Sidmouth 
Street, Gray’s Inn Road. 

The elevation next Sidmouth Street is composed of three 
leading parts; namely, two towers, over the entrances into the 
aisles, and a central part surmounted by an embattled gable, that 
conceals the roof, over the nave. The doors are recessed into 
the thickness of the walls with clustered pillars and mouldings, 
and the central one is finished by a handsome crocheted gable 
and finial. Plain buttresses are introduced at the angles of the 
building and between the openings which run up the whole 





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METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 291 

height ol the lofty towers, and finish with pinnacles crocheted up 
the angles, and elaborately carved finials. 

0\ ei each door are windows that light the aisles, and over the 
centre a handsome six light mullioned window, with rich tracery 
in the triangular part with which it is finished. Over this is a 
triangular gable intersecting a moulded string course, on which is 
inscribed in large capitals— Ecclesia Scotica. 

The towers have on each of their faces handsome pointed win¬ 
dows finished with crocheted labels and finials, and the parapets 
are embattled. 

The fianhs of the building are plain, but effective; for rich¬ 
ness of ornament would have been not only misapplied, but 
even wasted in such situations. The architect of this very hand¬ 
some specimen of the beautiful pointed style of our ancestors is 
William Tite, Esq., and it does great credit to his researches into 
their architectural stores. 

The London Ophthalmic Infirmary, &c. Finsbury, 

has no architectural feature beyond that of plain utility in its 
entire composition. It is three stories in height, faced with 
brich, and divided by string courses of Portland stone, and 
crowned by a moulded cornice and bloching course, on which is 
inscribed, “ London Ophthalmic Infirmary. See plate of 
the London Ophthalmic Infirmary , Finsbury. 

As this institution is for the cure of persons afflicted with in¬ 
cipient blindness, another laudable charity for those afflicted with 
total blindness, presents itself in the 

Asylum for the Indigent Blind, Westminster Road, 

a building more commendable for its utility than for its beauty, and 
apparently designed for its patients; any of whom would be su¬ 
premely blessed, could they but see its glaring disproportions. 
The centre is composed of a ground story of three openings, 
covered with semi-elliptical arches, raised upon their narrow di¬ 
ameter, on which is raised a principal story of three windows, 
with a facade of four ill-proportioned squat pilasters with Ionic 
columnar capitals. See plate of the Asylum for the Indigent 
Blind , Westminster Road . 

2 Q 


292 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

On these capitals is raised an entablature and blocking course, 
with an inscription on the frieze and architrave, indicating the 
building to be a 

“ School for the Indigent Blind, instituted d.mccc.xix. 

Supported by Voluntary Contributions,” 

and also on the string courses of the principal and wing building, 
that articles manufactured on the premises by the indigent blind, 
such as hearth rugs, baskets, turnery, &c. may be purchased by 
the public. 

In this praiseworthy and well conducted establishment, which 
it is quite a treat to visit, about sixty indigent persons, male and 
female, are supported and taught the arts of manufacturing 
baskets, mats, clothes lines, sash cords, hearth mgs, &c. from 
which a produce of from eight hundred to a thousand pounds a 
year is generally produced. This institution was originally es¬ 
tablished in 1792, and the present erected in 1807, and enlarged 
in 1819, so as to accommodate two hundred children. 

The King’s Entrance to the House of Lords. 

Taking our view from Poet’s Corner, it embraces the arcade and 
superstructure said to have been designed by our late King 
George III. 

Early in 1822 Mr. Soane, the architect, was directed to prepare 
a design for the improvement of His Majesty’s Entrance into the 
House of Lords:—a design was made, in the Gothic arcade, in 
front of the House of Lords, and was continued by a curvilinear line 
to the old entrance leading into the Prince’s Chamber. See plate 
of the King's Entrance to the House of Lords , from Poet's 
Corner . In the centre of this curvilinear line the carriage en¬ 
trance, as is seen in the plate, is constructed. 

The design having been approved by His Majesty, the works 
were begun and carried on with such zeal and attention, that on 
the 30th of January, 1823, the carriage entrance and the royal 
staircase, called by Mr. Soane, in his recently published large 
work on the various buildings erected by him, the Scala Regia , 
were finished as far as the door leading into the Prince’s Chamber. 
During the progress of this work, Mr. Soane made other designs 


M ETROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


293 


to complete the entrance from the Scala Regia into the House of 
Lords, which having been approved by His Majesty, the founda¬ 
tions of the building were laid on the 30th of October, 1823 ; 
and, by continuing the works night and day, the whole was com¬ 
pletely finished on the 1st of February, 1824. 

At the august ceremony of our Sovereign’s opening the Parlia¬ 
ment of the United Kingdoms, His Majesty enters by this way. 
On arriving at the new carriage entrance (see plates of the 
King's Entrance to the House of Lords, from Poet's Corner, 
and the Parliament House, from Old Palace Yard , West¬ 
minster), the procession is formed, His Majesty alights, passes 
along the corrider which leads to the Scala Regia, through the 
Ante Room, the Royal Gallery and the Painted Chamber, into 
the Robing Room ; and thence into the House of Lords, where 
His Majesty then takes his place upon the throne. For the better 
and more suitable accommodation of the king on these grand oc ¬ 
casions, the floor of the noble apartment called the Painted 
Chamber, wherein the conferences between the two Houses of 
Parliament are held, has been raised to a perfect level, and the 
doorway from the Royal Gallery into the Painted Chamber suit¬ 
ably enlarged, and decorated with a marble doorcase, which are 
the only alterations made by Mr. Soane. 

The exterior of these additions to the House of Lords are 
plain and simple specimens of the pointed style of architecture, 
embattled on the top, and composed in a corresponding style with 
the less recent portions of the building. 

Before leaving this spot, I take leave to mention, that among 
other of Mr. Soane’s eligible improvements suggested during the 
progress of these works, he proposed to trace out a suitable ap¬ 
proach for the king from the New Palace into the House of 
Lords, leaving Buckingham House, its superb hall, and its mag¬ 
nificent staircase, and other apartments unaltered, as a residence 
for some of the younger branches of the royal family ; Carlton Pa¬ 
lace, with its noble portico, and its unique hall, one ol the master¬ 
pieces of the late Mr. Holland, was to have been appropriated as 
a palace for the heir apparent or presumptive, connected with 
such other buildings as might be necessary for the National Gal¬ 
lery, the Royal Academy, the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, 
&c. forming together one grand assemblage of public buildings. 
But this beautiful architectural vision has vanished, and a row of 


294 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

lofty mansions, decorated with sculpture, have appeared in its 
stead. 

Let us now take our departure across the Park to that incipient 
region of fashion forming in the ancient back settlements of 
Pimlico and the Five Fields, Chelsea:—and first survey 


Belgrave Chapel and the West side of Belgrave 

Square. 

Belgrave Chapel is a chaste and elegant design of the Ionic 
order by Mr. Smirke, after the example of the temple on the 
banks of the Ilyssus at Athens, which I took an agreeable oppor¬ 
tunity of commending, shortly after its first erection, in my lec¬ 
tures on architecture at the Russell Institution. The cell or body 
of the chapel is parallelogramatic in plan, and Grecian in deco¬ 
ration ; with antes at the angles, the entablature earned over 
them, and a well proportioned stylobate by way of blocking 
course to the cornice and of parapet to the roof, which crowns the 
elevation. 

The principal front has a tetrastyle portico, flanked and sup¬ 
ported behind with antae, proper to the order, and raised on a 
handsome flight of steps above the street. See plate of Belgrave 
Chapel , and West side of Belgrave Square. The columns are 
covered by a lofty epistylium, a plain frieze, and a cornice in 
flank, which resolves itself into a beautifully-proportioned pedi¬ 
ment in front, and which, by its becoming projection, adds a singu¬ 
larly effective play of light and shade over the whole composition. 

Behind the central intercolumniation is a single doorway of 
large dimensions, embellished with architraves to the jambs, and 
an entablature proper to the lintel:—and windows, with dimi¬ 
nishing jambs, like the little gem of a circular temple at Tivoli, 
the darling of Claude Lorraine, ornament the wall between the 
antae. 

Beyond this is the west side of Belgrave Square, named after 
one of the titles of the Earl of Grosvenor, the ground landlord of 
this noble estate, which is of the great extent of nearly one 
hundred acres, lying between Knightsbridge and Pimlico from 
north to south, and between Chelsea and Buckingham Gate from 
east to west. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


295 

I his extensive area will be covered with mansions and hand¬ 
some houses, laid out with beautiful plantations, into two spacious 
squares, a crescent, and several detached villas, one of which is 
nearly finished, from the designs of H. E. Kendall, Esq., for 
Thomas Read Kemp, Esq. M. P., the opulent proprietor of Kemp 
Town, Brighton. 

The general arrangement was designed by Mr. Cundy, as sur¬ 
veyor for the ground landlord; the greater part of the ground was 
principally taken by Messrs. Cubitts, the eminent builders, and 
the architecture of the four sides of the square was designed by 
George Basevi, Esq. This great undertaking, equal in extent 
and value to many cities, and destined (say the projectors) to be 
the future residences of the highest class of the fashionable world, 
is constructing over a district formerly known as the Five Fields , 
and as the resort, on Sunday mornings and Saint Mondays, of 
pugilists, blackguards and duck-hunters. The improvement is 
great and manifest, and our best wishes go with its enterprising 
owners and speculators for its complete success. 

The general arrangement of the exterior of the rows and 
streets is rather common-place, but the interior of the houses, the 
detached porticoes, and other details, as well as the unattached 
buildings, such as Mr. Hakewill’s new church in Eaton Square, 
Mr. Smirke’s chapel just mentioned, Mr. Kendall’s Kemp-villa, 
and some others, which are in a less forward state, exhibit more 
artist-like composition and architectural feeling. 

Belgrave Square occupies an area of about ten acres, not in¬ 
cluding the ground upon which the houses are built; and Eaton 
Square, nearly adjoining, named after another title of the Gros- 
venor family, of which only one side is built, will occupy, when 
completed, an area of above fourteen acres. Its plan is that of 
a parallelogram, of eighteen hundred feet in length, by tlu'ee 
hundred and sixty in breadth, between the houses. 

To have a better view of the best portion of this new world 
of bricks and mortar, we will take our station opposite to the 

North east side of Belgrave Square, 

Which is composed of five principal parts ; a lofty centre, with 
a row of dwelling houses on each side of it, forming the main 
body of the composition, and two extreme wings which terminate 


296 METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 

the facade. The centre is marked by a sub-portico or porch on 
the ground story, with an attached hexastyle portico above of 
three greater columns, which have always a poverty-struck would- 
be-fine sort of effect, particularly in the centre of a composition. 
The columns are of the Corinthian order ol architecture, sur¬ 
mounted by an entablature bereaved of a third part of its fair 
proportions, and a consequent part of its height, and crowned by 
an attic, surmounted by vases. 

The wings are, as an upholsterer would say, en suite , but 
have tetrastyle porticoes, and a less aspiring attic, which give 
a pyramidal form that is always graceful, to the composition. 
The parapets of the wings and centre are unperforated, but those 
of the intervening houses have the common-place vulgarity, that 
Wren so vigorously but vainly tried to explode, of a useless ba¬ 
lustrade. To parody the lofty minded author of Madoc, I would 
say that there are three things to be avoided in architecture, the 
frivolous , the useless , and the superfluous , and a balustrade to a 
gutter of milled lead, five pounds to the foot superficial, where no 
one ever walks but plumbers and bricklayers’ labourers, possesses 
all these faults combined. Were the roofs terraces, like the 
palaces of Italy it would be endurable, provided always that the 
architecture of the building beneath was in the Italian or florid 
classical style, and not of the nobler race of Attica; but when all 
the shameful parts of the building, such as the flimsy slates, and 
odious smoking chimney pots, which are actually made a part of 
the composition as if they were the utmost delicacies of the art, 
are exposed to the public gaze in primitive nakedness, the com¬ 
bination is tasteless and disgustful; “ I pray you avoid it,” as 
Hamlet says to the players of his time upon a similar counsel to 
avoid superfluous dumb show, “ O reform it altogether.” I once 
built a large villa in the Italian style in Sussex for an English 
gentleman of great taste, and concealed at some expense of money 
and trouble all the chimneys. The consequence was that his 
neighbours, fox-hunters, cricketters and all, cracked their daily 
jokes at him, that they could never see his chimney smoke, or 
know when his kitchen fire was going. His successor, a Governor 
General of India, had all the chimneys raised from behind their 
decent concealment, and added false flues to make all even, till 
they were as conspicuous as the hundred and fifty chimneys be¬ 
fore us. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


297 


An inspection of the north-eastern part of the Park, on the 
hanks of the Regent’s Canal, will repay those who are fond of 
picturesque scenery on a small scale, thronged with 

u The busy hum of men,” 

particularly that portion which is called 

Park Village East, Regent’s Park, 

where there are two or three as pretty groups of minor villas, in 
spite of the obtrusion of smoaking chimneys, as any in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of London. In front you have the high road and its 
ever varying scenes, the various tastes in horticulture of the in¬ 
habitants in their little demesnes of a few yards square; the 
Swiss like clialette roof—only it wants more projection—of that 
third groupe on our left (see plate of Park Village East, Regent's 
ParkJ, with its imitative little ones on each side like Laocoon 
and his two sons; the upholsterer’s or blind maker’s cuttings at 
the eaves of that which is so near, with the bracketed roof of the 
other still nearer to us. 

Next the canal we have the busy scene of the canal itself and 
the towing path, the better front of the clialette roofed house or 
houses with its virandalis and conjoined semicircular-headed win¬ 
dows. 


Suffolk Street, Pall Mall East, 

is interesting in every point of view, particularly as a spot sacred 
to art and literature. In this street are the residences of several 
able architects, and artists, and the stage entrance to the Hay- 
market Theatre. The house occupied as Price’s Italian Ware¬ 
house, is a fine specimen of Italian architecture by Mr. Nash. 
See plate of Suffolk Street , Pall Mall East. It is composed of 
a rusticated ground story, with a private and warehouse door 
under the narrow intercolumniations, and a Venetian window 
under the wider or central division. On this is elevated a tetra- 
style portico of three-quarter columns of the Ionic order, raised 
upon plinths and a balustrade between them. This portion of the 
design occupies the one and two pair stories, and the attic is 


298 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


raised upon the entablature, which in this instance is complete, 
with vases between the windows. It is an appropriate and 
pleasing design. The next two are private houses, and the third 
beyond it, the residence of Mr. Cressy the architect, is a copy 
and adaptation of Palladio’s professional residence at Vicenza. 

The next building beyond it, with the projecting portico, is the 
Gallery of the Society of British Artists, a joint production of 
Mr. Nash and the author of this work:—the elevation next the 
street being by the former eminent architect. 

The elevation consists of a basement of three arches and four 
piers, on which is raised a tetrastyle detached portico of the pal- 
ladian Doric, with a proper entablature and pediment with square 
acroteria. The rooms of the Society consist of six galleries or 
exhibition rooms, with an entrance for the public from Suffolk 
Street, through a hall and up a handsome flight of stairs, into an 
elegant vestibule. 

The Guildhall, Westminster, 

is an insulated structure, designed for the use of the municipality 
of Westminster, standing on the south side of the ancient sanc¬ 
tuary, near to the Abbey. In this building are held the sessions 
of the city, and the trials in the Court of the High Bailiff, and it 
afforded accommodation for the various high courts of law and 
equity, during the repairs and enlargement of Westminster Hall. 
It is a quadrangular brick building with recesses at the angles, 
that give it somewhat the form that continental architects call a 
Greek cross; and has a tetrastyle portico of the Doric order, with 
a pediment, in the principal front. The centre of the building is 
crowned by an octangular tower, with semicircular windows in 
every face, that give light to the principal court below. At each 
angle is a pier that serves for a buttress, which, with a connecting 
moulding that runs round the entire building, crowns and connects 
the whole. On this cornice is a blocking course, and lofty balus¬ 
trade, in three panels to each face. The roof meets in a point 
over the centre of the building, on which is a lanthern and nave. 
It was designed and executed by the late Samuel Pepy Cockerell, 
Esq. a pupil of Sir Robert Taylor’s, and father of the able and 
travelled architect, Mr. C. R. Cockerell, who designed that beau- 



































































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


299 


tiful Ionic chapel of St. George in Regent Street, which is no¬ 
ticed at page 100 of this work. 

We will now take a view of the 


New Buildings Pall Mall East, and the 
University Club House, 

the former being the splendid establishment of Messrs. Hancock 
& Co. the well known manufacturers of cut glass, designed by 
Henry Rhodes, Esq. one of the architects in the office of woods 
and forests, and the latter the united work of William Wilkins, 
Esq. R.A. and John Peter Dering, Esq. A.R.A. 

The United University Club, which meets at this house, is a 
society composed of members of the two universities of Oxford 
and Cambridge, elected by close ballot, which keeps it eminently 
select. 

Being a corner house, it has the advantage of two fronts, one 
opening to Suffolk Street, and the other to Pall Mall East. Both 
fronts are raised upon a rusticated surbasement, which is occupied 
by the ground story, and that next Pall Mall East, which may be 
considered as the principal, although not the entrance front, is 
distinguished from that next Suffolk Street by a tetrastyle portico 
of the Ionic order, selected from the splendid specimen the Ery 
Erectheuim at Athens. See plate of the University Chib 
House. 

The entrance front, next Suffolk Street, has an enclosed portico 
or porch to the ground story, and a series of antae in correspond¬ 
ence with those which appertain to the columns in the principal 
front. Between all the columns and antae are a series of spacious 
and lofty windows, that give light to the grand apartments of the 
principal story. Upon tlie upper surface of the entablature is a 
parapet, designed in the proportions of a stylobate or continued 
pedestal, with piers over the antae. It is one of the most taste¬ 
fully designed, and elaborately executed, of any of the recently 
new buildings of the metropolis. 

The other building before us, from the designs of Mr. Rhodes, 
is also elevated upon a rusticated surbasement, which is occupied 
by the ground story as warerooms. The windows are divided by 
rusticated and panelled piers, which are surmounted by a plain 
and efficient cornice, the lofty blocking course of which is used as a 

2 R 


300 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


plinth for the Corinthian order of the principal story. In front of 
each window is a perforated panel, which ingeniously converts 
the styles, or interstices, into sub-plinths for the columns above. 
The one pair, or principal story, is appropriated to the lofty exhi¬ 
bition rooms of the establishment, in which are displayed some of 
the most splendid works of cut glass in Europe. The front is di¬ 
vided into three parts, a centre of four Corinthian columns in 
antis, which form a receding portico, and two slightly projecting 
wings, with coupled antse at each angle. In the intercolumnia- 
tions of all the columns and antic are a row of semicircular¬ 
headed windows. 

Upon the entablature of the Corinthian order is raised an attic 
story, with vases over the columns and dwarf pilasters over the 
antce. This handsome front is cleverly connected with that in 
Cockspur Street, to which it forms a very obtuse angle, by a cir¬ 
cular recessed dyastyle portico in antis, and other ornaments above 
and beneath in accordance with other parts of the building. 
There are few shops, either in London or Paris, that can he com¬ 
pared with this showy design of my old and esteemed friend 
Rhodes. See plate of the New Buildings Pall Mall East , and 
the University Club House. 


The New Caledonian Asylum 

is a chaste and classical design of the pure Doric order, consisting 
of a tetrastyle detached portico in the centre of the front, and 
four windows on each side. The extreme angles are marked by 
ant® in accordance with those behind the columns. The windows 
have architraves to their jambs, and lintels and trusses under their 
sills. Those of the lower story have cornices above the lintels. 
In the tympanum of the pediment is a shield containing the royal 
arms of Scotland, which, for want of decorative and appropriate 
sculpture, presents a very meagre appearance. See plate of the 
New Caledonian Asylum. Above the cornice of the pediment 
are plain acroteria, well adapted to the order of the building to 
which they are applied, and on the central one is elevated a statue 
of St. Andrew with his cross. The architect of this substantial, 
appropriate and useful building, which was instituted in 1815 for 
supporting and educating the children of soldiers, sailors, marines, 
&c. natives of Scotland, or born of indigent Scottish parents 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 301 

lesident in London, lias succeeded in the object, and its establish¬ 
ment is mainly owing to the great exertions of John Galt, Esq. 
the able and admired author of the Annals of the Parish, to whose 
friend, the author of Waverly, our print is dedicated. 

The Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, 

was originally designed, in 1812, by P. F. Robinson, Esq. for W. 
Bullock, Esq. of Liverpool, as a receptacle for a Museum that 
went by his name, and was afterwards dispersed by auction in 
1819. It has since that been occupied by the lamented Belzoni, 
who fitted up the one pair story with his Egyptian antiquities, 
and other exhibitions. Among others, were various historical pic¬ 
tures by Haydon, Gericault, Le Thiere and other modern painters, 
and as well as a fine collection of ancient pictures and sculptures, 
the property of Charles Day, Esq. of Rome. 

The elevation is completely Egyptian, that is, supposing the 
ancient Egyptians built their houses in stories. The details are 
correctly taken from Denons’ celebrated work, and principally 
from the great temple at Tentyra. The two colossal figures that 
support the entablature of the centre window are novel in idea 
and application, picturesque in effect, and add variety to the com¬ 
position; while the robust columns beneath them seem built ex¬ 
actly for pedestals to the sturdy Ethiopians above them. See 
plate of the Egyptian Hall , Piccadilly. The large projection 
of the superior cornice, rising from the colossal-sculptured torus 
that bounds the entire design, is grand and imposing. 

The London Orphan Asylum, Clapton, 

was founded, in 1813, for the relief of destitute orphans, particularly 
those of a respectable parentage, and is so comprehensive in its 
plan, that it relieves objects without any regard to local or other 
distinctions. This laudable charity provides for and accommo¬ 
dates three hundred destitute orphans. 

The building is situate at Clapton, near Hackney, and is a very 
classical design of the Grecian Doric order. It consists of four 
parts, a centre and two wings, and a chapel connected with the 
latter by a dwarf colonnade. See plate of the London Orphan 
Asylum , Clapton. The most striking feature of this pleasing 


302 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


edifice is the central building in front, which is used for the-chapel. 
It is a pure Greek prostyle temple, with a tetrastyle portico of 
the Doric order, bearing an inscription on the frieze, instead of 
triglyphs, importing that it was instituted in 1813, and erected in 
18*23. The pediment is plain, but in just altitude to the order, 
and has mutules under the corona, over the places of the triglyphs 
and metopes. These, with the omission of the columns, are car¬ 
ried round the building both in the posticum and flanks. 

The wing buildings have antae at their angles, and the roofs 
form pediments to the order. The centre behind the temple ac¬ 
cords in elevation with the wings, and has a wide and lofty pedi¬ 
ment to give it its proper consequence. 

The central temple is joined to the wings by a low Doric co¬ 
lonnade, the roof of which affords shelter to an ambulatory below, 
that leads from the wings to the chapel. This colonnade, which, 
as well as the temple, is raised upon a flight of steps, connects 
the composition, which is worthy of the talents of its architect. 

The Licensed Victuallers’ School, Kennington, 

is an establishment more to be regarded for the benevolent views 
of its patrons, than for the architectural beauty of the building 
which contains their objects of protection. The Society was es¬ 
tablished, and is supported by the respectable body of Licensed 
Victuallers of the metropolis, as an asylum and school for the 
orphans and children of the destitute part of tlicir brethren. The 
profits of the journal called “The Morning Advertiser” 
is also added to its funds, and every member is of course called 
on to contribute by taking in that newspaper. 

The building is a series of dwelling houses, added together at 
various times, as the funds and objects of the institution in¬ 
creased, and is therefore little else than a substantial commodious 
edifice, with a spacious playground and gardens, in an airy situa¬ 
tion in Kennington Lane. It has been somewhat improved in 
architectural appearance, by a central tablet of stucco over the 
pedimented door as a sort of centre to the composition. See plate 
of the Licensed Victuallers' School, Kennington. 


M ETIIOPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


303 


The recent repairs to 

The Royal Exchange, Cornhill, 

under the superintendance of George Smith, Esq. have given this 
spacious and useful building a totally different appearance to what 
it formerly possessed. Every body knows the royal origin of this 
building by that loyal subject Sir Thomas Gresham, whose statue 
embellishes the principal front and the arcades below, and his 
grateful sovereign, Queen Elizabeth, by the breath of her voice, 
transformed the humble city Bourse to the Royal Exchange. 

Sir Thomas Gresham left it by his will, which was dated in 
1574, after the deatli of his wife, to the Corporation of London, 
and the Mercers’ Company as trustees, under certain conditions 
for public purposes. The original building was burned in the 
great fire in 1666, and was subsequently rebuilt and opened for 
its present purposes in September, 1669, under the auspices of 
King Charles the Second. 

The interior, “ where merchants most do congregate,” is a 
parallelogram of one hundred and forty-four feet in length, and is 
surrounded by a peristyle colonnade within, and an arcade on the 
north and south sides without. 

The principal entrance is on the south side next Cornhill, and 
consists of a tetrastyle detached portico of the Corinthian order, 
with a lofty arch between the central columns. The columns are 
surmounted by a lofty entablature, on the acroteria of which are 
sculptural armorial bearings of the United Kingdoms, the City of 
London, the Mercers’ Company and Sir Thomas Gresham. On 
each side of these is a balustrade surmounted by statues repre¬ 
senting the four quarters of the globe. These, as well as the 
bassi-rilievi below them, are by Mr. J. G. Bubb. In niches below 
the architrave are statues of the unfortunate Charles the First, and 
his son Charles the Second, by Bushnell. 

The new entablature, balustrade, bassi-rilievi, statues and the 
new tower are by Mr. George Smith, and in a purer taste than 
the original building. But there was such a degree of eccentric 
beauty about the old tower, which so accorded with the bizarre 
vagaries of the structure to which it was annexed, that we cannot 
help lamenting that Mr. Smith did not reinstate it in more sub¬ 
stantial materials, rather than impose so much more modest beauty 


304 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


upon the substantial citizen-like structure below it. See plate of 
the Royal Exchange , Cornhill. 

In the centre of the quadrangle is a statue of King Charles the 
Second in marble, and in niches over the arcades are a series of 
statues of the various Kings of England, and of two illustrious 
citizens and subjects, to whom our native city is under the 
greatest obligations, namely, Sir Thomas Gresham and Sir John 
Barnard, the latter of which was erected in his life time, by his 
fellow-citizens, in testimony of his services as a magistrate and 
member of parliament. 

The New Church of St. John, Holloway, 

is another of Mr. Barry’s examples of pure ancient English archi¬ 
tecture, and is equally creditable to his good taste in that beau¬ 
tiful department of our art with his new church in Cloudesley 
Square, alluded to in page 201 of this work, his restoration of St. 
Mary (Stoke Newington), his new churches in the Ball’s Pond Koad 
and at Brighton. It is composed, like that of St. Paul’s, Ball’s Pond 
(see plate of the Neiv Church of St.John , Holloway ), of a nave and 
two aisles, with pointed windows and dwarf buttresses between 
them, and a substantial square tower, with angular buttresses 
surmounted by crocketed pinnacles. This durable and handsome 
church is built with brick and stone, after the ancient English 
method, which is as pleasing in appearance as it is strong in 
principle. 

The Auction Mart, St. Bartholomew Lane, 

% 

is a very useful commercial building, originally constructed by a 
joint stock company, principally composed of auctioneers, who 
found their ancient mart, Garraway’s Coffee House, too limited 
in space for their general use, and too dark for the display of pic¬ 
tures and other ornamental articles that are often disposed of by 
public auction. 

The establishment was formed in 1808, and premiums were 
offered by the directors of the association for the three best de¬ 
signs, when the first was awarded to the late John Walters, Esq. 
who designed the beautiful Gothic church at Stepney, which is 
described in page 260 of this work, and he was appointed arclii- 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


305 


tect to the building, which was opened for public business in 
1810. It is principally used as a central establishment for the 
public sale by auction of estates, annuities, company’s shares, 
pictures, books, jewellery &c. 

The front next Bartholomew Lane is rendered architectural 
by an attached portico of two stories, the lower of which is of the 
Doric order, and the upper of the Ionic surmounted by a pedi¬ 
ment. The lower order is tetrastyle in antis, and occupies the 
height of the principal and mezzanine story. See plate of the 
Auction Mart , St. Bartholomew Lane. The side next Throg¬ 
morton Street is rusticated to the upper part of the mezzanine 
windows, and the cornice of the upper order is continued in both 
fronts. 

The upper story is contained within the space of a curb-roof, 
and, being lighted by three large lantern lights, forms three spaci¬ 
ous auction galleries. The area between the pavement and the 
building, which gives light to a basement story of offices, is pro¬ 
tected by a plinth and balustrade instead of iron rails, which 
gives a very architectural appearance to this part of the structure. 
It is, I believe, almost, if not the very first example of this mode 
of decorating the areas of basement stories, although much used 
by Sir William Chambers and his able pupil Gandon, in Dublin, 
and not uncommon in the cities of our continental neighbours. 

The Gas Works, near the Regent’s Canal, 

are an immense pile of buildings, in the parish of St. Pancras, in 
the road leading to Kentish Town, and have a degree of archi¬ 
tectural heauty arising from their intrinsic magnitude, the simpli¬ 
city of their component parts, and the imposing grandeur of the 
two large columnar chimneys that surmount the roofs. See plate 
of the Gas Works , near the Regent's Canal . The composition 
of the principal front is pleasing, although deviating from the 
generally received notions of composition, by having its centre 
lower than its sides, which is improved by a slightly projecting 
centre and a pediment. The flanks have each a series of circular- 
headed windows in each story, which, like the arcades of an an¬ 
cient aquaeduct, are pleasing from the reduplication of a number 
of simple parts, which when alone produce scarcely any effect. 


306 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


The North-west FA9ADE of the New Covent Garden 

Market 

is erected in the centre of Inigo Jones’s beautiful Piazza, which 
is now rendered by fire and alterations very incomplete. It is 
composed of four great principal parts, each of which have similar 
characteristics. The centre consists of an arch raised upon the 
entablature of two Tuscan columns, with a single-faced arcliivolt 
supported by two piers, which carry a lofty triangular pediment, 
the tympanum of which is embellished by the armorial hearings 
of the noble owner of the soil, the kind-hearted and benevolent 
Duke of Bedford. O 11 each side of this appropriate centre, which 
is high enough to admit a lofty loaded waggon into the central 
area, is a colonnade of the Tuscan order, projecting before the 
shops. The columns are of granite, and of the Palladian or 
rather Cliambersian Tuscan, disfigured by an ornamental balus¬ 
trade, which has no use but to contain market business, totally out 
of keeping with the massiveness of the order. See plate of the 
North-west Fagade of the New Covent Garden Market. 

We wonder that the ingenious architect, Mr. Fowler, did not, 
with the majestic beauties of Inigo Jones’s gem, the church in 
the centre before his eyes, use the appropriate Vitruvian order, 
which the father of our art composed expressly for the purposes of 
market places. Its greatly projecting cornice, and the great width 
of its intercolumniations, render it so appropriate to this pur¬ 
pose. 

At each of the extreme angles of the four portions of this new 
market, is a raised quadrangular pavilion, which breaks the mo¬ 
notony of the composition in a very satisfactory and artist-like 
manner, for they are at the same time useful and ornamental. 

The area of this spacious market is about three acres, and is 
the principal mart of the metropolis for fruit, vegetables and 
flowers. If the noble duke, who is the proprietor of the whole 
site, would completely restore Inigo Jones’s entire design of the 
piazza which surrounds it, with its original appropriate paving 
in panels and fillets, it would be undoubtedly one of the most 
magnificent squares in Europe. 






GUY EARL OF WARWICK.WARWICK LANE. „ . LONDON STONE. CANNON STREET. 






















































































































































































METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


307 


Buildings, Highfield, Camden Road. 

Among the various recent improvements of the Metropolis and 
its Environs, there are few more likely to be permanently useful 
than the new line of road now made from the Gloucester Gate, 
Regent’s Park, to Holloway, and intended to he continued through 
Stamford Hill to Essex and Hertfordshire; thereby shortening the 
distance between and approximating all the adjacent villages and 
the western parts of the metropolis, the parks and places of public 
resort. 

It is upon the highest point of this road, where it crosses the road 
leading from Battle Bridge to Highgate, that these buildings (see 
plate of Buildings , High field, Camden Road) have been erected, 
being the first of any importance in that part of the environs of 
the town, and which from its elevated site and magnitude forms 
a most distinguishing object. The view from the top is without 
exception unequalled within the same distance from town, being 
completely panoramic, and taking in the surrounding country to a 
vast extent, far into Essex, the hills near Rochester, the Thames, 
Shooter’s Hill, the Surry hills, Richmond, and to Windsor, with 
all the intermediate objects. 

The principal building we have shown is ninety feet long, forty- 
five wide, and sixty-six high, besides others of nearly equal di¬ 
mensions, which, we are informed by the proprietors Messrs. Mann 
and Sargon, are required to contain their stock of cloth, the 
quality of which depends in a great degree upon its age and long 
exposure to the air, and to accomplish which the stock on hand is 
always from 30 to 40,000 yards. 

The New Library, &c. in the Temple. 

The pile of buildings called the Temple is divided between 
two societies, named the Inner and the Middle Temple, both 
possessing a hall, a library, a garden, chambers, &c. hut using the 
ancient church described in our former pages in common. “ It 
takes its name,” says a recent writer, “ from having been the 
principal establishment, in England, of the Knights Templars; 
and here, in the thirteenth century, they entertained king Henry 

2 s 




308 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


III., the Pope’s Nuncio, foreign ambassadors, and other great per¬ 
sonages. The king’s treasure was accustomed to he kept in the 
part now called the Inner Temple; and from the chief officer, 
who, as master of the Temple, was summoned to Parliament in 
the 47th of Henry III.; the chief minister of the Temple Church 
is still called Master of the Temple. After the suppression of 
this once celebrated order, the professors of the common law pur¬ 
chased the buildings, and they were then first converted into 
Inns of Court called the Inner and Middle Temple , from their 
former relation to Essex House, which as a part of the buildings, 
and from its situation outside the division of the city from the 
suburbs formed by Temple Bar, was called the Outer Temple. 

“ The principal part, or what we might almost call the nucleus 
of the Inner Temple, is the Hall and Chapel, which were sub¬ 
stantially repaired in the year 1819. Thence a range of unsightly 
brick buildings extended along a broad paved terrace, to the 
south, descending to the Garden, or hank of the Thames. These 
buildings have lately been removed, and the above splendid range 
erected on their site, from the designs of Robert Smirke, Esq. 
R.A. They are in the Tudor, or, to speak familiarly, the good 
Old English school of architecture, and combine all the pic¬ 
turesque beauty of ancient style with the comfort and elegance of 
modern art in the adaptation of the interior. Our succinct sketch 
of the origin of the Temple will sufficiently illustrate the appro¬ 
priateness of Mr. Smirke’s choice. Over the principal windows, 
on escutcheons, are the Pegasus, the Temple arms, and the re¬ 
spective arms of Henry III. and George IV. At the end imme¬ 
diately adjoining the Chapel is a Latin inscription with the date 
of the repairs, 1819, and at the eastern extremity of the present 
building is another inscription with the date of 1828, in which the 
last improvements were commenced. Viewed from the Terrace, 
the wdiole range has a handsome and substantial appearance, suffi¬ 
ciently decorated, yet not overloaded with ornament. From 
another point, Whitefriars’ Gate, the end of the building, with its 
fine oriel window, is seen to considerable advantage. Against the 
old brick house on this spot was a sundial, with the quaint con¬ 
ceit, 4 Begone about your business.’ The cast-iron railing of the 
area appears to us extremely elegant and appropriate.' 

“ The interior is not yet completed, but, by the courtesy of the 
architect, we have obtained a view of its unfinished state. The 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. . 309 

principal apartments are the Parliament Chamber on the first, 
and the Library on the second floor. The Chamber adjoins the 
Hall, and is intended for a withdrawing-room, whither the Tem¬ 
plars of our times, after dining in the Hall, may repair to exer¬ 
cise the argumentum ad baceulinum in term time. The dimen¬ 
sions of this room are in height about thirteen feet; length 
thirty-seven feet; and width about twenty-seven feet. Above is 
the Library, which is indeed a magnificent room. The height is 
about twenty feet; length thirty-nine feet; and width in the 
centre about thirty-seven feet. The fine window, of which we 
spoke in our description of the exterior, is not yet glazed; its 
height is seventeen feet, and width fourteen feet; and the mul- 
lions, &c. are very rich. The remainder of the buildings will be 
occupied by ante-rooms and chambers for barristers. The whole 
will be fire-proof, the floors being divided by plate-iron archings 
upon cast-iron bearings.” 

Apsley House, Hyde Park Corner, 

is now the town mansion of his Grace the Duke of Wellington, 
as it was formerly that of his brother the Marquess of Wellesley. 
This splendid mansion has been enlarged, renovated, and made 
architectural; the situation being one of the finest in the metro¬ 
polis, standing at the very beginning of the town, entering west¬ 
ward, and commanding fine views of the parks, with the Surry 
and Kent hills in the distance. 

The principal front consists of a centre and two wings. See 
plate of Apsley House , Hyde Park Corner. The portico is 
tetrastyle and of the Corinthian order, raised upon a rusticated 
arcade of three apertures, which lead to the entrance hall; the 
wings have each two windows in width, and the whole of the 
ground story, which forms the basement of the building, is also 
rusticated. The west front has two wings, and the centre slightly 
receding has four windows, to which are appended a handsome 
balcony, and the portico here is surmounted by a pediment of 
graceful proportions. 



310 


M ETR0 POLIT AN IM P RO YEMEN TS. 


Royal York Baths, Regent’s Park, 

and Sussex Place in the same royal demesne. The former is an 
affectation in little of the East India House, Leadenhall Street, 
divested of all its beauties of detail, and invested with all its few 
faults, even to its little projecting retrograding portico, without its 
reasonable excuse, the narrowness of Leadenhall Street, and the 
prodigious value of the ground in that golden neighbourhood, 
with a borrowing of the useless wing doorways of the London 
Institution. See plate of the Royal York Baths , Regent's 
Park. 

The new buildings in the Regent’s Park proceed with such 
rapidity that it is almost impossible to follow them, in any work 
of less frequent recurrence than a daily newspaper. I must 
however still call your attention to this site of architectural splen¬ 
dour, and take a view of 

The West Gate, Regent’s Park, 

which is an octangular rusticated building, enlarged with wings 
on four of its sides, which are smaller in dimensions than the 
others. The larger sides of the octagon have sashed windows, 
and the faces of the wings are decorated with recessed niches. 
The ground story is elevated upon a plinth, and divided from the 
upper story by a carved and moulded string-course. The wings 
are surmounted by a blocking-course, and two ponderous trusses, 
which act as buttresses against the upper story. From the eyes 
of the upper scrolls of these trusses are suspended swags, which 
produce a pleasing effect. 

The upper story being divested of the wings, is an irregular 
octagon with attic sashed windows in its four larger sides. It is 
surmounted by a dentelled cornice and blocking-course, above 
which the roof approaches to an apex round the octagonal stack 
of chimneys. The walls are rusticated with square sunk hori¬ 
zontal joints, and the whole building is an architectural bijou of 
great beauty. The entrances are on each side, and consist of a 
carriage way and two posterns, divided by rusticated stone piers, 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


311 


i 

for foot passengers. See plate of the West Gate , Regent's Park .. 
The view of the cottages and plantations in the Park, as seen 
through this very pretty gate, is highly picturesque. 

Among the villas that have been erected since our first tour 
round the Regent’s Park is one called 


The Doric Villa, 

from the order of the architecture of which it is constructed. 
Like many of the other suburban houses in this delightful* site, it 
unites the solid advantages of the town house, witli the more 
agreeable varieties of the country habitation, and is therefore very 
appropriately styled a villa. 

The order of architecture used, the manner of its application, 
and the garden accompaniments, are in the best style of Italian 
architecture. See plate of the Doric Villa in the Regent’s Park. 
The views on either side are equal to most in the Park, and its 
own ground and plantations are in a corresponding style with the 
villa. 

Before taking our farewell of this magnificent Park, let us take 
a few views of 


Cumberland Terrace, 

which of itself would furnish a volume of description for a 
modem Roman cicerone. It is one of the most extensive terraces 
in the Park, and has greater pretensions to architectural beauty 
and sculptural embellishments than any other in its vicinity. 

The prevailing character of Cumberland Terrace is elevated 
grandeur, arising from a majestic simplicity of larger parts, 
although a portion of its smaller parts is occasionally corrupted 
with the prevailing vice of its architect’s school, a pettiness of 
detail. See plate of Cumberland Terrace , Regent's Park. 

The composition consists of a lofty rusticated ground story, 
which forms a basement to the structure, an architectural eleva¬ 
tion raised upon this, of the Ionic order, and an attic raised upon 
the entablature of the former; besides a real basement story 
below the level of the entrance story for the domestic and culinary 
offices. 


312 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


The terrace, properly speaking, is elevated from the high road 
and the plantations by a handsome stone balustrade, raised on 
plinths, and divided at proper intervals with stone piers. It is 
approached by steps, and serves both to separate the houses from 
the road and to give the entire composition a proper elevation. 

The ground story presents the appearance of a species of 
stylobate to the superstructure, perforated at proper intervals with 
apertures, which form the windows and entrance doorways. The 
walls are marked in regular courses of stone work w ith horizontal 
rustics, and their plainness and simplicity w r ell accord with the 
architect’s intention. The great length of this story, broken only 
by the projection of the centre and its w r ings, produces a grand 
effect, and aids the composition by its extent. 

Upon this lofty base is elevated the principal feature of the 
structure, the immense range of Ionic columns and pilasters which 
support and decorate the twm principal stories; namely, those of 
the withdrawing rooms and best chambers. These stories are 
separated by a plain stone string-course, and the columns and 
pilasters are crowned with a proper entablature, after the example 
of the celebrated temple on the banks of the river Ilyssus, near 
Athens, which is so correctly delineated in the first volume of 
Stuart’s Antiquities of Athens. The order of this range is se¬ 
lected from that very choice specimen, of which I have said in 
another work,* that the simplicity and breadth of parts, their 
judicious arrangements, the beautiful contour of the volutes, and 
the graceful curve of the hem which hangs between them, renders 
it one of the most beautiful and bold examples of the Ionic order. 
The giand proportion of the whole entablature, the massy and 
effective mouldings of the cornice, the spacious surface of the 
frieze, so well adapted for sculpture, and the plain architrave, 
w r hich is not broken and subdivided into several faciae, are con¬ 
siderations which recommend this example as one of the canons 
of the Ionic order. 

This specimen being one of the purest examples of the Greek 
style of architecture, leads me to consider to w hat causes the great 
superiority of the Greeks in that art may be traced: which are 
undoubtedly the same that occasioned their great superiority and 
pre-eminence in every thing else; namely, a deep investigation 

* Lecture delivered at the Russell Institution, 8vo, 1821, p. 211. 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


313 

into first principles, and an accurate perception of the elements 
of every thing they attempted to perform. This pre-eminence led 
our great critic, Samuel Johnson, to exclaim, whenever he met 
with their beautiful language, “ So much Greek so much Gold” 
and it may be as fairly applied to their architecture, and to their 
sculpture, as to their literature. 

We will now proceed and take a view of 

The Centre of Cumberland Terrace, Regent’s Park, 

v 

which stands unrivalled for size and grandeur in this palace-like 
neighbourhood. 

It consists of a decastyle portico in the centre, flanked by tw r o 
less projecting porticoes of four columns each, on either side. 
The portico projects more than the width of the intercolumnia- 
tion, and is covered by a soffite, divided into panels by the epis- 
tylia. The portico has no pediment, but its upper surface is 
formed into a terrace or ambulatory, and has therefore, with great 
propriety, an open balustrade. 

On the pedestals between the balusters of the side porticoes 
are figures, which correspond with the pilasters behind them, and 
on the corresponding pedestals of the central portico are a row of 
vases of dumpy proportions. Lord Byron scarcely hated a dumpy 
woman more than I hate these dumpy jars of the apothecary. 
Behind these is a lofty attic, formed of non-descript pilasters, and 
a most w T eak and ineffective piece of carpenter’s work, by way of 
a cornice, and as fragile and puerile a pediment as ever w r as 
placed against the gable end of a barn. See plate of the Centre 
of Cumberland Terrace , Regent's Park. It was doubtlessly so 
contrived for contrast and effect, but weakness is not grace, nor 
inefficiency contrast. 

In the tympanum of the pediment is a bold sculptural % compo¬ 
sition, executed in terra cotta by James George Bubb, Esq., re¬ 
presenting Britannia, the various arts, sciences, trades, &c., that 
mark her empire; and on the three acroteria are other statues in 
correspondence with those of the side porticoes. 

Upon the blocking-course of the Ionic order, the windows of 
the attic story are perforated, and are ornamented with moulded 
architraves. An upper cornice and blocking-course runs through 


314 


MET110P0LITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


the entire elevation, above the range of windows, and completes 
the design. 

The garden accessories to this splendid terrace are in the very 
first style of the art of the English-dressed landscape; and, by 
its variety, beauty and taste, add great charms to the archi¬ 
tecture. 

The art of architecture, which this work has been employed in 
illustrating, is of too much importance to the welfare and comfort 
of mankind, to be neglected or despised by any but the vain and 
superficial. It is the art by which we can best distinguish ci¬ 
vilized man from his rude and barbarous kindred. It forms a 
scale of comparative cultivation, and of the progress of intellect 
between nation and nation, and of different aeras of the same 
people. Plato admits the study of politics and legislation began 
with the building of cities. Architecture is also the most faithful 
recorder of the great and noble deeds of nations long since sunk 
into obscurity, and its durable works hear existing testimony to 
the truth of history. 

From an inspection of the pyramids, the obelisks and the 
temples of Egypt, we judge of the powers of the once mighty 
nation that erected them. From the Parthenon we judge of the 
taste of the ancient Greeks, and from the Colosseum of the wealth 
of the ancient Romans. 

An enlightened patronage of our art embellishes the names of 
monarchs and of princes with unfading lustre; and a great and 
virtuous prince is rendered even more illustrious by such en¬ 
couragement, while the infamy of a bad one is cloaked and dis¬ 
guised by its brilliancy. 

Our late revered sovereign patronized his illustrious country¬ 
men, Chambers, Wyatt, and Stuart, and their works embellish 
and record the reign of George the Third; and his son, our 
present popular and truly-beloved king, has patronized this art 
and its professors, as our preceding pages show, still more abun¬ 
dantly than any modern sovereign. More than nine years ago 
the first minister of the crown asserted in the House of Commons, 
on our present king’s accession to the throne, that “ as far as His 
Majesty had already presided over the councils of the nation, the 
result had been glorious. He trusted, and was persuaded, that 
His Majesty would have the gratification of adding a new page 
•of lustre to the English history; and that, as there was nothing 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


315 


ol glory left to achieve, His Majesty would snatch the only re¬ 
maining laurel, by cultivating the arts of peace. 

I repeat, may his Majesty’s love for the laurels of the fine arts 
long continue; and may the enchanting, fragrant, and ever- 
blooming flowers of painting , sculpture , and architecture, of 
music and of literature , entwine around our country’s fame, 
and make the reign of George the Fourth the golden age 
of England! 

Improvements Charing Cross. 

Foremost in this view is the statue of the unhappy and unfor¬ 
tunate Charles the First, which is of bronze, and was cast in 
1633 by Le Sueur, a French sculptor of great talent, who wrought 
the beautiful brass monument of the Duke of Buckingham, in 
Henry the Seventh’s Chapel, for the Earl of Arundel. After the 
execution of the king, the parliament ordered it to be sold by 
auction, when it was purchased by a cutler in Holborn, of the 
name of Revett, who pretended to melt it down and make handles 
for knives of it. He, in fact, caused knives with bronze handles 
to be exposed for sale in his shop, by which he soon made a fortune ; 
the faction which opposed the king being all desirous of having- 
some part of his statue debased to a knife-handle. The loyal 
cutler, however, concealed it till the restoration of Charles the 
Second, when he presented it to that king, who caused it to be 
erected in its present situation. 

The large building, directly opposite, is the Union Club House 
and the Royal College of Physicians; the white house, in the middle 
distance, the bank of Ransom & Co.; and that with the colonnade, 
in the extreme distance, crowned with a lofty slated roof, the 
King’s Theatre, or Italian Opera House. 

The New Opening to St. Martin’s Church, 

the best view of which is from Fall Mall East. 

The want of this opening was complained of so long ago as in 
1734, by Ralph, an architectural critic of some consideration, 
who has the credit of first suggesting this manifest improvement, 
which forms an architectural picture of great beauty. The 
building on our left is called the King’s Mews, and was formerly 

2 t 


316 


METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. 


• + 


the royal stables. It is 116 w used for the exhibition of works of 
art, manufactures, &c., and was designed by the great Earl of 
Burlington. That on our right is the portico of the College of 
Physicians, a new building by Mr. Smirke, forming, with its 
illustrious opponent, a fine architectural frame to Gibbs’s beau¬ 
tiful portico of the church of St. Martin in the Fields, which is 
now seen to its deserved advantage. The portico is fine, but the 
spire and tower, though far surpassing many of more recent date, 
are, compared with those of Sir Christopher Wren, mean and 
inefficient. 

The London Orphan Asylum, Clapton. 

> 

This laudable charity, which provides for and accommodates 
three hundred destitute orphans, is situate at Clapton, near 
Hackney, and is from a classical design of the Grecian Doric 
order. It consists of four parts, a centre and two wings, and a 
chapel connected with the latter by a dwarf colonnade. The most 
striking feature of this pleasing edifice is the central building in 
front, which is used for the chapel. It is a pure Greek prostyle 
temple, with a tetrastyle portico of the Doric order, bearing an 
inscription on the frieze, instead of triglyphs, importing that it 
was instituted in 1813, and erected in 1823. The pediment is 
plain, but in just altitude to the order, and has mutules under the 
corona. The wing buildings have antae at their angles, and the 
roofs form pediments to the order. The centre behind the temple 
accords in elevation with the wings, and has a wide and lofty pe¬ 
diment to give it its proper consequence. The central temple is 
joined to the wings by a low Doric colonnade, the roof of which 
affords shelter to an ambulatory below, that leads from the wings 
to the chapel. 











The historical and descriptive letter-press of this Work being the same as that in the large 
4to. Edition of “ Metropolitan Improvements,” which contains 160 engravings, it frequently occurs in 
this Volume that the words “ see Engraving ,” or “see Plate of so-and-so,' 1 ' appear; those remarks do not 
refer to the 8vo. Edition, which contains under Fifty Engravings ; but being printed from the same 
stereotype plates as the 4to. -work, those notices cannot be prevented, and the circumstance is thus mentioned, 
lest it should be supposed that some plates have been omitted in this Volume, which ought to have appeared. 


London, Sep. 1, 1847. 





























